King cube

What it does to a drink

Surface area scales with the square of the size, volume with the cube. Double the edge length and you get eight times the mass behind only four times the surface — so a single large cube carries far more cooling capacity per unit of melting than the same water cut into small cubes. That is the entire argument for it, and it is why a drink over one cube tastes the same in the last mouthful as the first.

Use it for

Anything sipped slowly and served on ice: an Old Fashioned, a Negroni on the rocks, whisky. Any drink where the spirit is the point and water is the enemy.

Don’t use it for

Shaking — never shake with a large cube, it will not chill fast enough and may crack the tin. And long drinks, where a single cube leaves most of the column uncooled.

Making it at home

A silicone mould with 5 cm wells. For a clear cube, freeze it directionally: insulate every side of a small container except the top so the water freezes downward, pushing the trapped air and minerals ahead of it, then cut off the cloudy bottom.

Worth knowing

Cloudiness is trapped air and dissolved minerals, not dirt. Boiling the water twice helps a little; directional freezing is what actually works.

Cocktails that call for it

• Old Fashioned
• Negroni
• Boulevardier
• Vieux Carré
• Black Russian
• Godfather
• Rusty Nail
• Toronto

The other kinds

• Standard cubesThe default, and right far more often than not.
• Crushed iceMaximum surface area — instant cold, fast dilution, and frost on the glass.