Paper straws are scientifically terrible for carbonated drinks. All of those fibers make a ton of nucleation sites for the CO2 and just make darn sure that your carbonated drink isn’t carbonated by the time it gets to your mouth. Seriously, if you wanted to design something to intentionally make a carbonated soda flat by the time it gets to your lips, I don’t know how you’d do it better than with a paper straw. Maybe a long hose that shakes the liquid as it goes through?
And sure, ok, plastic straws aren’t great environmentally. But surely there was a third option before we went back to literally the worst choice? Something decently cheap, biodegradable, and non-porous? Can we not invent something like that? There’s tons of industrially-compostable polymers, right? Wouldn’t those break down in the ocean over time?
I now take the lid off the beverage and drink straight from the cup like a savage. If you’re a beverage lid purist, you might want to consider investing in a personal metal straw, they even make them crazy now.
I agree that sipping is probably the best option. My problem is that most to-go cups at restaurants use lids for structural reinforcement; they make the cup less sturdy (because it’s cheaper) and count on the lid to keep it stable.
For clumsy and forgetful people (it’s me, hi, I’m the problem) the option right now seems to be buying a reusable straw that ends up sitting in my silverware drawer permanently, living with the fact that I’m just always going to have some sort of stain on my shirt, or drinking subpar, flat sodas. Or, I guess, switching to a non-carbonated drink. None of them are my favorite options. Come on, scientists!
Paper straws are scientifically terrible for carbonated drinks. All of those fibers make a ton of nucleation sites for the CO2 and just make darn sure that your carbonated drink isn’t carbonated by the time it gets to your mouth. Seriously, if you wanted to design something to intentionally make a carbonated soda flat by the time it gets to your lips, I don’t know how you’d do it better than with a paper straw. Maybe a long hose that shakes the liquid as it goes through?
And sure, ok, plastic straws aren’t great environmentally. But surely there was a third option before we went back to literally the worst choice? Something decently cheap, biodegradable, and non-porous? Can we not invent something like that? There’s tons of industrially-compostable polymers, right? Wouldn’t those break down in the ocean over time?
I now take the lid off the beverage and drink straight from the cup like a savage. If you’re a beverage lid purist, you might want to consider investing in a personal metal straw, they even make them crazy now.
I agree that sipping is probably the best option. My problem is that most to-go cups at restaurants use lids for structural reinforcement; they make the cup less sturdy (because it’s cheaper) and count on the lid to keep it stable.
For clumsy and forgetful people (it’s me, hi, I’m the problem) the option right now seems to be buying a reusable straw that ends up sitting in my silverware drawer permanently, living with the fact that I’m just always going to have some sort of stain on my shirt, or drinking subpar, flat sodas. Or, I guess, switching to a non-carbonated drink. None of them are my favorite options. Come on, scientists!
I’ve never understood why they don’t just use the coffee lids for everything.