Table Manners · a Light

He drank in three breaths and said it was better

Anas ibn Malik, who served in the household for ten years, said the Prophet ﷺ took the cup from his mouth three times while drinking rather than swallowing it down in one draught, and that he found it more thirst quenching and easier on the stomach. He also told people not to breathe into the vessel itself. The habit can be tested at any kitchen tap. Water taken in three separate breaths sits differently from water gulped, and anyone who has drunk too fast on a hot day knows the difference. It is a small piece of table manners with a physical reason attached, reported by a servant who watched it happen at close range for a decade, and it costs nothing to keep.

Anas ibn Malik · Madinah

Source · Bukhari 5631, Muslim 2028