Have you ever seen someone put a sugar cube in a glass of champagne before? Some people do this, but many wonder why you would bother.
Is there some significance to putting sugar cubes in your champagne? Or is this just a strange quirk that some people have when drinking champagne?
Keep reading to learn why some people choose to put sugar cubes in champagne. After you’ve heard about all of the reasons why people do this, it’ll be easier to understand the appeal.
1 – It’s an Old Italian Tradition
Some cultures have traditions that don’t make sense unless you grew up with them. The old Italian tradition of dropping sugar cubes into glasses of champagne does kind of make sense when you look at it from the right perspective.
Essentially, there is an old tale that says that the devil never wants to see you happy. If the devil knew you were happy, then he would want to do whatever he could to try to ruin it.
To hide your happiness from the devil, you place the sugar cubes in the champagne. It allows you to give a happy toast while keeping things incognito from the devil.
Whether or not this is sensible is up to you to decide, but it is something that some people do. It’s an old tradition that some people adhere to, and you might even see people who don’t have Italian ancestry doing it sometimes.
2 – Wishing a Couple Well
If you take the devil thing out of the picture, then there is still an old Italian tradition about wishing a young couple well to consider. It’s common for people to make a toast to an engaged couple, and this is what you see happening most often when people drop sugar cubes into champagne.
The purpose could be to give the couple your best wishes as they start a new journey in their lives. The act of dropping sugar cubes into the champagne might signify that everyone is wishing that the union will make their lives sweeter.
Some people say that this is the true meaning behind the gesture, but just as many people say that it has to do with hiding from the devil. It could be a combination of these two things, but you can decide what intention you place behind dropping a sugar cube into champagne if you decide to do it.
3 – A Movie Made It Popular
A movie actually brought this little tradition to the forefront and made many people realize that it was a thing. The 1987 film Moonstruck sees one of the characters toasting an engagement with champagne.
Before the man serves the champagne in the movie, he drops sugar cubes in the glasses. This was the first time that many people had ever seen this tradition, and it stuck with some non-Italian people who loved the movie.
You might notice some people without Italian heritage have adopted this little tradition. It might be because someone in the family was a fan of Moonstruck and thought that the gesture was meaningful.
4 – It Makes the Champagne Sweeter
Of course, putting sugar cubes into your champagne is going to alter it somewhat. It should make the champagne more effervescent than before, and it’ll also be noticeably sweeter.
Some people might like drinking champagne that has a bit of extra sweetness. If you’re a fan of sweet drinks, then you might want to try it out whether you’re worried about the devil or not.
Making the champagne more bubbly than before might also have some appeal. There are people who think that this will ruin the taste of the champagne, though, and which side of the fence you will fall on will depend on personal preference.
You could take a sip of the champagne and see if you think it is sweet enough. If it isn’t as sweet as you would like it to be, then dropping a sugar cube in your glass might not be too bad.
Of course, if you don’t like the taste of your champagne, there are other things that you can do to improve the taste. Many people choose to make champagne cocktails, and they’ll add things such as lemons or orange twists along with sugar cubes.
Not everyone finds champagne to be a tasty drink, but many people do enjoy drinking it without adding anything to it at all. It depends on your taste, and it’s fine to like it whatever way you think is best.
5 – It Makes Things Prettier
Dropping a sugar cube into a glass of champagne will make it more effervescent than before. Some people really like the visually appealing aspect of champagne, and the sugar cube can help the champagne to sparkle for several minutes.
If you’re making a toast or doing something that you want to be truly memorable, then maybe having the champagne sparkle more is a good idea. It could add to the visual flair of the moment and increase the significance of whatever it is that you’re doing.
This could be a part of why people choose to do this when they’re making a toast or doing some other type of significant gesture. It isn’t completely uncommon for people to do this just because, but it might be more for dramatic effect than anything else.
Final Thoughts
After reading about the reasons why people put sugar cubes in champagne, it’ll be easier to understand why this happens somewhat often. It certainly isn’t something that everyone does, but you’ll see people doing it here and there.
If you know an Italian family that is into old traditions, then they might do this for those reasons. Some people will simply use sugar cubes to add a bit of sweetness to their champagne as well.
Whether you find the traditions to have merit or value will depend on your outlook on life. At the very least, you’ll have some idea of why people are dropping sugar cubes into glasses of champagne the next time you see it happening.
I have two Associate’s degrees, one in Medical Assisting and the other in Computer Technician, and I am roughly five classes from a bachelor’s degree. Though I never ended up working in the medical field, I have five and a half years of experience in IT. I recently became a stay-at-home mom to my two young boys, and I’m so excited to start this adventure with them! In my spare time, I love to bake and read pretty much anything I can get my hands on.