How do you drink absinthe?

The setup

Pour one measure into the glass. A lot of old glasses show you how much: a bulb, a line or a ridge near the bottom marks the dose. Lay a slotted spoon across the rim and put a sugar cube on it. Sugar is optional. Plenty of people skip it.

The water

Drip ice water onto the sugar, slowly, so it melts through the holes in the spoon into the absinthe. That is why the old cafés had fountains: a tank of ice water with small taps, so two to six people could each let water into a glass a drop at a time. A carafe works too, poured in a thin stream.

Watch the glass. As the water goes in, the green turns pale and milky, starting at the top. The French call it the louche. The oils from anise and the other herbs stay dissolved in strong alcohol and fall out of solution as the water dilutes it. You can watch it happen on the home page: open the tap on the glass under the sign.

What you need

A glass, a spoon and water. The spoon is the piece collectors chase. Old ones are mostly in France, sold in French, and how to find them is in The real spoons are in France. Photographs of real spoons, fountains and glasses are in the gallery.