The Portland City Council officially voted Wednesday to curtail the use of disposable straws and utensils, making them available only upon request. This is the latest effort to reduce plastic waste in Portland and already many restaurants have done away with disposable plastic sucking sticks.
Maybe you've decided to do your part and pick a reusable straw to keep on your person at all times. Maybe you're doing market research for your new
Whatever your case may be, we're here to help. We bought straws made from a variety of materials on Amazon and tested them in the field. We used the straws in different settings for a couple of weeks and then ranked them. Here's what we found.
Performance in the field: This is an annoying straw. It looks thick from the outside but it has the smallest diameter of the straws we tried and forces the user to suck with all their might just to drink some water. Forget about a smoothie or a milkshake, unless you have time to wait for the whole thing to melt.
Ease of cleaning: Best to just drink water using this straw anyway because any thick or particle-filled liquid will be too hard to suck up. It isn't super hard to clean, but you will need to use the correct, smallest possible cleaning brush.
Aesthetics: This looks environmentally friendly, like the kind of thing a yoga teacher would feature in her Instagram story.
Mouthfeel: Like drinking through a pencil.
Comes with cleaning brush: Yes
Durability: After just a couple of uses, the bamboo at the bottom was discolored.
Water taste: A little like you are chewing on bamboo.
Temperature in cold: Barely cool
Temperature in hot: Barely warm
Performance in the field: Better than expected in that these last longer in a normal drink and are a little tougher than a lot of paper straws I have experienced. Still, they break down after a few minutes in warm liquid. The straws last a little longer in colder drinks but are certainly one use only.
Ease of cleaning: Easy to throw away. Update: The City of Portland points out straws, even paper straws, are not compostable.
Aesthetics: Cute for a Pinterest wedding.
Mouthfeel: One chew and these lose all structural integrity.
Comes with cleaning brush: No
Temperature in cold: Barely cool
Temperature in hot: Barely warm
Performance in the field: This straw looks good and that's it.The problem is that it conducts heat well. Too well. If the drink is cold, your mouth is freezing. If your drink is hot, you might burn your lips. Also, the metal clinks in a weird way against your teeth.
Ease of cleaning: Generally easy to clean with soap and water under a tap, though it's hard to see how clean it is so you might want to run it through with the cleaning brush.
Aesthetics: This is a slim, sleek metal straw that would look good at a hip bar, as long as your drink orders are room temperature.
Mouthfeel: See above. Temperature is distracting and painful, and the teeth clinking is unsettling.
Cost per straw: $1.72 ($6.89 for four)
Comes with cleaning brush: Yes
Temperature in cold: Very cold
Temperature in hot: Very hot
Performance in the field: Why don't we just reuse old plastic straws? They seem like they last forever, right?
Ease of cleaning: Throw it away and kill a turtle or something, you monster.
Aesthetics: Classic, timeless (never biodegrades).
Mouthfeel: Great for nervous chewing and ease of drinking.
Cost per straw: This is the free straw that comes with a cold drink at Starbucks and pretty much everywhere.
Comes with cleaning brush: No
Temperature in cold: Just fine
Temperature in hot: See above
Performance in the field: The rigid metal bottom makes this easy to poke into lids, without the temperature and teeth-clinking problems that happen with the full-metal straw. The silicone is good for chewing.
Ease of cleaning: It's hard to see if this is clean, especially because of the black silicone and the metal. I would wash this one with soap and water and use the cleaning brush.
Aesthetics: This looks like a straw that cool rock climbers would use.
Cost per straw: $2.76 ($11.03 for four, but the price fluctuates on Amazon)
Comes with cleaning brush: Yes
Diameter: 5mm at the top, 4mm at the bottom
Durability: This went with me on a trip and stood up to a lot of use.
Performance in the field: I liked using this straw for smoothies but found it a little too wide for water. The volume coming in through the straw was just too much.
Ease of cleaning: Since this was best for smoothies, it got a lot of berry bits in it. I ran it through the dishwasher, and the berry bits were still there. Best to use the pipe cleaner or soak the straw for a long time.
Aesthetics: These straws are big and squishy and fun. They come in a lot of bright colors and seem like they would be period-correct in an '80s commercial for juice.
Mouthfeel: As a straw chewer, I like the flexibility of this one and that fact that if I bite down I don't break my teeth.
Comes with cleaning brush: Yes
Durability: Stands up to multiple trips through the dishwasher and a full week accidentally left soaking in water.
Temperature in cold: Just a little cool
Temperature in hot: Does not conduct heat so stays a fine temperature.
Performance in the field: The volume of fluid you can suck out of this straw is sort of a Goldilocks amount: a little more than a regular plastic straw but not too much. This straw is great for smoothies because the glass doesn't get too cold and you can see what you are drinking.
Ease of cleaning: This straw is easy to clean with soap and water. It's nice because you can see what's in there.
Aesthetics: This straw looks like it's meant for smoking meth. It took me awhile to get past that. But once I did, it became my favorite all-around straw. Also, it looks like whatever you are drinking!
Mouthfeel: Glassy. You won't want to chew on this one.
Cost per straw: $2 ($7.99 for four)
Comes with cleaning brush: Yes
Durability: It's glass so, don't use it at pools, don't drop it on hard surfaces, etc.
Temperature in cold: Gets cold but not unpleasantly so.
Temperature in hot: Warm, but not too hot.
Performance in the field: These straws ended up getting used a lot. First, they were cheap and came in a large quantity, so it was easy to put them in bags and take them places, and not get too worried if they were lost or misplaced. Also, they were easy to use. The ridge around the bottom kept them in lids and they were the most low-maintenance option for around-the-house water drinking.
Ease of cleaning: These go through the dishwasher and clean pretty easily with soap and water under the tap. These aren't too opaque so you can pretty well see if they are clean or not.
Aesthetics: These don't seem as pure and perfectly at one with the universe as something made out of metal or bamboo, but they are actually kind of cute and come in a bunch of different designs.
Mouthfeel: This feels like a straw, just more rigid. But there are no concerns about chipped teeth or extreme temperature. You can even chew a little, but you might not want to.
Comes with cleaning brush: Yes
Durability: These last awhile, especially if you clean them regularly.
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