Best Japanese jiggers

A jigger's accuracy is not about the manufacturing tolerance of its total volume. It is about how visible a small error is while you are pouring, because that is the moment you can still correct it.

In a wide, shallow cone, one ounce forms a broad disc. A sixteenth of an inch of extra depth across that disc is a surprisingly large volume, and it looks like almost nothing. In a tall, narrow cone the same ounce forms a column, and a sixteenth of an inch of extra height is a much smaller volume - and far more obvious to the eye.

That is the whole design rationale for the Japanese profile, and it is why the shape is standard behind good bars. It is not about tradition or aesthetics; it is a readability argument.

We have not filled and weighed these jiggers, and we do not present these as test results. We compared published dimensions, marking schemes, materials and what owners consistently report. Our criteria, in order:

• Bore profile. Narrow enough that a fractional pour is readable as a height rather than guessed as a depth.
• Interior markings. Lines you can see with liquid in the cone, for the fractions you actually use - half, three quarters, quarter.
• Stability. A jigger tips when full, and a tipped jigger is a wasted measure and a wet counter.
• Balance in the hand. You hold a jigger one-handed while the other hand pours from a bottle. It needs to sit in the fingers, not balance on them.
• Rim finish. A crisp rim is what stops a pour running down the outside, which is a surprisingly common annoyance on cheap jiggers.

The full method is on how we pick.

Jiggers are sold as double-ended cones, and the pairing decides which drinks are easy and which involve arithmetic.

The 1oz/2oz pairing with interior lines is the most useful single purchase because the lines make the second size redundant for most fractions. Jigger sizes explained has the full conversion table, including the tablespoon and bar spoon equivalents for tiny measures.

A tall narrow jigger is more accurate and more likely to tip. That is not a coincidence - the same geometry causes both. A high center of gravity on a small base is exactly what makes a full jigger vulnerable to a knocked elbow.

A wider profile reverses both. It is harder to read fractions in and it sits solidly among a crowd of bottles on a bar cart. Which you should want depends on where you work: a clear kitchen counter favors the Japanese profile, a crowded cart favors the wider one.

The compromise option is a wide-based jigger with angled markings, which is what the OXO does. It is bulkier and slower into a tin, and it is very hard to tip and very easy to read. Japanese vs American jigger works through the full comparison.

• Unmarked stamped cones. Two volumes, no lines, and usually inaccurate at both. These are the jiggers in cheap kits and they are the reason people conclude jiggers do not help.
• Jigger caps built into shaker lids. Too small, poorly calibrated, and they add a part that can leak.
• Plastic measures. They stain, they scratch, and the markings wear off.
• Anything that only measures in 'shots'. A shot is not a unit. Buy something marked in ounces or milliliters.

Once you have a jigger, the technique is worth two minutes of attention: how to use a jigger covers filling to the brim rather than to the line, and why holding it low is more accurate than holding it up.