When great things or important events happen in life, it can be really fun to celebrate. One of the most popular ways to celebrate is to pop open a bottle of champagne and make a toast.

For some people, keeping the celebration going and drinking the whole bottle can be fun. For many others, however, just one glass is enough. This prompts the question of what to do with the rest of the bottle. Champagne isn’t usually cheap, so you don’t want to waste it. If you don’t drink it soon enough, however, it will lose its fizz.

One recommendation that has been passed down through the years is that if you want to keep a bottle of champagne fizzy after it has been opened, all you have to do is take a teaspoon and slide it into the neck of the bottle.

It isn’t exactly clear where this advice came from, but the real question is whether or not it is true.

Well, believe it or not, this was actually studied in 1994, and by the Interprofessional Committee of Champagne, no less.

This group took five separate bottles of champagne, opened them, and then attempted to preserve them in five different ways:

• The bottle opened with nothing put in or on it.
• The bottle opened with a silver teaspoon in the opening.
• The bottle opened with a stainless steel teaspoon in the opening.
• The bottle opened with a cork stopper in the opening.
• The bottle opened with a metal lid on the opening.

They then let the bottles sit for the next day and tested them. The tests included having several people taste the champagnes to see which ones were the best.

To nobody’s surprise, the bottles with the silver spoon and the bottles with the stainless steel spoon did not fare well. They saw a loss of both pressure and weight, and the taste testers reported that the champagne was not well-preserved.

These researchers recommend using a proper champagne bottle stopper to seal up the bottle. They also recommended keeping the leftover champagne in a cool location, such as the refrigerator, to help slow the release of carbon dioxide.

Of course, the best option in most cases is to pour another glass for everyone and finish it off.

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