Imagine you have taken a table at the Café de la Paix, a favorite rendezvous for Manet and the other impressionist painters of the day. It is early evening on a chilly November day, and you have all the time in the world to watch the carriages rattling up the Boulevard des Italiens toward the recently constructed Opéra. A waiter with a waxed moustache and fresh linen apron comes by to take your order: "L'Absinthe, s'il vous plait."

With the first sip of the tongue-numbing, stomach-warming, idea-changing green drink, you forget all your troubles. You are, in fact, now under the spell of the "Green Fairy". With a well-sugared absinthe sitting before you on the marble tabletop, you muse philosophically, "Absinthe, on a winter evening - lights up in green the sooty soul."

Exactingly reproduced from an antique original, this handsome glass Absinthe Loupe Carafe captures all the spirit of that decadent age.  Produced as a promotional piece for use in cafés and bistros throughout France, this particular carafe's design features a frosted bell (known as a loupe) indented at the bottom. This frosted bell shaped loupe would be decorated with the name of the specific absinthe brand.  Ingeniously, the lettering on the loupe is magnified when water is added to the carafe. 

For a touch of French Belle Époque decadence, this unique carafe will be a storied addition to your home bar.

9" tall x 4.5". 

Learn More About Absinthe

Crystal clear in the bottle, potent emerald green in the glass, and 144 proof - absinthe is as illicit as it is intoxicating. It's also among history's most notorious spirits - romanticized and maligned in equal measure. Sipped by Oscar Wilde, Baudelaire, van Gogh, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, and many other prominent artists and writers, absinthe was first used in ancient Greece for its healing powers. In 19th century France, it became a symbol of decadence and soon a scapegoat for the social and political ills of the period, leading to its ultimate prohibition.

Traditionally, absinthe is poured into a glass over which a specially designed filligreed absinthe spoon is placed. A sugar cube is then placed in the bowl of the spoon. Cold water is slowly poured or dripped from a carafe or an absinthe fountain over the sugar cube until the drink is sweetened & diluted to taste - anywhere from a 3:1 to 5:1 ratio of water to absinthe. During this process, the components that are not soluble in water, mainly those from anise, fennel and star anise cloud the drink, giving absinthe its eerily green, milky opalescence. The addition of water is an important step, causing the herbs to "blossom" and bringing out many of the flavors originally overpowered by the anise.