Audio By Carbonatix
We’ve all been there. You’re at a party, and someone’s about to pop a bottle of champagne. You’re excited for the bubbly but dreading the loud bottle pop and the possibility of the flying cork taking out your eye. Well, worry no more. One woman is going viral on TikTok for showing how to properly open a bottle of champagne without all the drama.
In a 40-second video with 278,800 views, Lindi Goff’s (@lindigoff) sister, Anna Goff (@annaandthekitch), shares how she was taught to open champagne in culinary school.
“You’re gonna twist the cage six times,” Anna begins after her sister introduces her. She seems unsure why this number is significant but states definitively, “That’s just how many times.” Importantly, these are half turns. If you rotate the tab 360 degrees rather than 180, you only need three turns.
Next, she says you leave the cage on the cork and twist the bottle from the bottom. “It’s not supposed to make any noise when you pop it, but it probably will when I do it,” she adds. She twists the bottom of the bottle while firmly gripping the side of the cork until the bottle opens with a small hiss. “Oh! That was good,” she says as her sister claps from off-camera.
‘Wait This Is The Life Hack I’ve Been Waiting For!’
In the comments section, several viewers shared appreciation for the PSA, noting that they’ve been popping bottles wrong all their lives. Others corroborated the advice and added to it.
“I can’t wait to show off this trick,” one said.
“6 turns for how many glasses of champagne in the bottle,” a second wrote. According to VinePair, this isn’t the reason the number is six. It states, “Wine and liquor professionals polled by Champagne and Security gave a few reasons for this standard six-twist rule: tradition, for one thing. Alternatively, ‘6 refers to the pressure of 6 atmosphere in the bottle,’ according to others. And then there’s the romantic explanation: ‘6 is what the French see as the number of intense happiness.’”
A third viewer joked, “I actually think you shake it first, take the cage off, then pop the cork while everyone ducks out of the way.”
A fourth left us with parting wisdom on how to tell whether we’ve done it right. “Someone once told me opening champagne should be as quiet as the queens fart,” they wrote. “I never forgot that.”
@lindigoff @Anna Goff 🍾🍾🍾
Is Anna Right?
According to Wine Folly, yes. In an instructional video on the site, the company’s content director demonstrates opening a bottle of (not technically) champagne the same way Anna does.
The one thing she does that Anna does not is pressing down on the cork (while it’s caged) as you spin the bottle. You should hold the bottle at a 45-degree angle while you spin (which Anna did) so the pressure is redirected to the side of the bottle when it releases rather than coming out of the mouth. The cork should slowly loosen and eventually come out on its own with the cage—though you can pull it out yourself a little early if you want a bit of a pop for fun.
Pro tip: If you’re worried about the champagne erupting, stick the bottle in the freezer for 20-30 minutes before opening to extra chill it, relieving some of the pressure.
The editor also adds a tip for how to properly pour champagne: Don’t pour from above the glass at a 90-degree angle. Angling the glass to 45 degrees allows you to pour more quickly while getting less foam. The same applies to beer.
BroBible contacted the Goffs via email.