While all of them were far from perfect, the one that used directional freezing yielded the best spheres.
, which are essentially identical—are fun to use and look like big rubber balls. You can fit a bunch in the freezer, and they’ll be durable. We’ve already addressed the problems with removing the spheres from them, and they tend to yield spheres with dimples where the holes are on the top of the mold and an extra ring of ice where the seam is. But, as we said previously, those imperfections can be masked in a darker drink. They will, however, pick up freezer smells.
We tested three molds with smaller-sized spheres. The TINANA spheres measure out to be 2.36 inches; this was not enough of a difference to matter, so they’re effectively as good than other spheres of a full 2.5 inches. The spheres for thewere only 1.75 inches in diameter, which proved awkward in a rocks glass. One sphere was not enough to keep the drink cold or to look attractive in the glass.
No sphere ice came out pristine. There were dimples and dents, cracks and seams. Some were more oblong or bulbous than spherical. And cloudy spheres emerged from every mold, with the exception of one: the TINANA. The clear spheres that the TINANA mold made were superior in many ways. In the glass, they looked fantastic, light bouncing off them reflectively, the drink showing clear through to the other side.