Review/Giveaway: Strawesome Glass Straws

I have a glass obsession. If it's clear and shiny and can hold things, I want it in my kitchen. Collecting glass storage containers is my secret hobby, and Pyrex and I are BFF's. No empty glass spaghetti jar or food container makes it to the recycle bin in my house. Those beauties go to the glass horde, also known as my upper cabinets. Each month I have to play an elimination game of sorts, pitting containers against one another and deciding which ones I tearfully let go to the land of reincarnation (the recycle bin). It's a painful process, but without it, glass containers would take over every storage area in my house.

So you can imagine my complete and utter excitement and googly-eyed-ness when I learned about Strawesome. Glass straws! How in the world did these exist? And why didn't I have one?

Like most of you out there, I have long ago ditched plastic to avoid harmful BPA. But through my research I have also made the decision to avoid stainless steel.

Why?

Because although it does not have BPA, creating stainless steel is incredibly harmful to the environment. Mining the materials to create steel results in deforestation and contamination of the local soil. The production process used to create steel goods pollutes our water and produces toxic gasses as a by product. To top it off, steel workers are exposed to these toxic gasses and the negative effects they have on their health. And if all of that doesn't convince you... well just taste the metallic flavor left behind in your drink... No thank you!

I really believe glass is the way to go! But of course, I have yet to find a travel glass drinking container with anything other than a plastic or silicone straw, so we switched to traveling outside of the house with mason jars instead. It works really well for us. It is simple, convenient and so much easier to clean than typical travel containers.... but we really missed our straws! Especially my daughter!

There have been times she refused to drink unless a straw was found, period! I searched for straws from other materials and everything I found was silicone or stainless steel. Well you already know why stainless steel is out in my book, but I decided to give silicone a try. They were practically indestructible (really important since Ivette loves to chew and destroy the tops of her straws), easy to clean by boiling, and came in fun colors.

But eventually, we gave up on silicone because no matter how much they were cleaned and boiled, they always gave a silicone flavor to our drinks and I just didn't like the taste nor what I thought was making it's way into our bodies.

But a glass straw you say? Hmmm, seems so simple, why didn't I think of it. It's a genius idea! I would never have considered looking for glass straws. Way too fragile for traveling and to be in the hands of a toddler, right? Maybe not. Either way I was excited to give it a try, this could be the answer to The Great Straw Dilemma!

Strawesome has a great website where you can view all their products. At first I thought, how much is there to browse really... but they have a lot of well thought out variety!

Their straws come in a range of widths for thin or thick drinks. From a skinny 7mm straw perfect for sipping cocktails, up to 15mm... perfectly sized for drinking “bubble tea” (tapioca tea).

They also have a ton of lengths to fit virtually any container, even a 12 inch size to go right into your blender carafe! To top it off, unlike stainless steel, they have a variety of gorgeous colors and designs to choose from, and travel cases to protect your straw on the go!

I received an 8” clear, barely bent straw in “smoothie” width for me, and a 7” Amethyst barely bent, just for kids straw with yellow swirl detail for Ivette (standard 9.5mm width).

I love the simplicity for me, but also loved how fun my daughter's straw was. To be honest, I didn't think much of a design on a straw. I'm a skeptic... It's just a straw, right? But when it arrived it was so super cute, and you can tell made with care.

In fact, all of their design straws are handmade by artist Daedra Surowiec, who also happens to be the President of Strawesome! Cool!

Strawesome says they are committed to the environment which showed in their minimal packaging. The straws came very well wrapped and cushioned in paper. No excess advertisements, catalogs or junk to toss. I really liked that!

I didn't think I was going to like their “barely bent” style. I was sort of hoping for straight straws but I quickly understood why they call them barely bent. The straw is not so much of a crook as juuust so turned down enough that it is comfortable to sip lazily from. My kind of straw!

Also the nature of a glass straw is that it is... well, permanent. Seems like a no-brainer, but it's actually really important to realize when choosing a glass straw. I wasn't going to be able to pinch around and finagle the straw as I did with the silicone ones I had been using. So having a shape that was comfortable to drink from ended up being really important to think about. I think the type of bend in these straws and the location of the bend is perfect.

The first thing and biggest thing I noticed when unwrapping the straws was how substantial they were. I was really surprised! These weren’t flimsy glass. They were thick and sturdy. The website compares it to Pyrex glass, but definitely stresses that they are not indestructible. I have dropped plenty of Pyrex without it breaking, and this straw seemed as if it could hold up to some abuse.... but I wasn't about to test the theory!

However, the straw has held up amazingly well. Ivette has banged it against the sink, and used it to make music with her mason jar. She is also a straw chomper... I have had to throw away so many cups because she bites the straws to bits while drinking. I was really happy knowing that this straw would be then end of that, although I was a bit nervous with it being glass and all. Would it break while she used it with her chomping?

I knew that was more of a paranoid-mommy worry than anything else, especially after seeing how strong they were. I have yet to drop a straw, but based on the abuse my daughter's straw has endured, it could likely survive a drop or two. If you are worried about the fragility of the straws, consider a thicker width. My smoothie straw seems like it could handle anything.

For my uses, drinking from a mason jar, I think barely bent is definitely the way to go, although the 8” was a teeny short for the quart jar, and didn't sit quite as I would have liked due to the bend. For this reason I wish they made a 9” barely bent, but their straws jump from 8” to 10”. Either way, they only have soft cases for all straws over 8” and I really needed something sturdy to survive the diaper bag. It wasn't so short it was unusable, I just wished it was a little longer. The upside: Strawesome does custom orders!

If you plan on taking around your straw to replace disposables when eating out, I would recommend a taller, straight straw from my experience. I think the straight straws pair better with containers that have a top. If you're using them for mainly cups glasses and other “topless” containers, I really think the barely bent is the straw for the job.

Strawesome also sells coordinating cases and brushes to clean their straws. The cases are not Strawesome branded, but are quality, sturdy and fit the bill. I like that the case closed securely and didn't allow any liquid from a quickly stored wet straw leak out into my bag.

I only received one case and I found myself always trying to stick my and my daughter's straws in it together. Even if I had a second case, I would have done the same... carrying them together is just so much more convenient. But Strawesome does not have a case for carrying multiple straws.... something I hope they might add!

The straws are definitely strong enough to survive close quarters together as the fit in the case is snug. My 8 inch smoothie and Ivette's 7 inch kids straw juuust squeezed in together. I may cheat and get a kids straw so we can travel with our straws together in one case. I do recommend being careful if you cheat and try to do this though... I has worked for me, but they are glass straws after all!

The cleaning brush was a great and useful addition to the set. I can't tell you how many silicone straws I fought with trying to get the insides really clean, sometimes a rinse is not enough, especially with sticky smoothies.

The only downside is their straw brush comes in one width. It is really the perfect size for uniformly scrubbing the inner walls of their standard 9.5mm straw, but when it came time to clean out my smoothie straw (12mm), the brush was just slightly too small and I had to wiggle the brush around a bit to get a thorough clean. Not too annoying, but I do wish they had bigger brushes or a brush with fluffier bristles to accommodate all widths- and also a softer spine. The brush was flexible, but quite hard. It was very easy to bend by hand but didn't really yield to the straw, and I worried about the exposed metal tip scratching the inside of my straw, or worse yet, cracking the straw trying to force it through too quickly. This is easy enough to avoid by brushing gently and patiently.

All in all, I really love Strawesome. Our glass beauties became a part of our daily routine as we start each day with a smoothie. I didn't notice too much of a difference between the smoothie width compared to their standard, but my smoothies are typically quite thin.

My daughter's straw has never gotten clogged, even with chia seeds and she quickly became attached to her straw. Ivette wants to use it everywhere, even ditching the plastic bendy straw from her juice boxes and asking me to squeeze her Strawesome straw in instead. I'm really pleased at how it has held up to her toddler shenanigans!

Y'all should grab yourselves a few Strawesome straws, and try out my favorite use for them - get your day started smoothies. We never leave the house without one, and these two recipes are my staples.

Good Morning Detox Smoothie

Ingredients

1 cup of liquid (I usually use organic apple juice, but sometimes I do half and half with water or all water)

1 Orange
1tbsp Chia Seed

½ cup frozen fruit (mixed berries and strawberries here)

½ cup fresh cut wheatgrass

¼ fresh parsley

¼ cup whole milk vanilla Greek yogurt

Directions

Reserve ¼ cup of liquid and add to it 1tbsp of Chia seeds. Allow chia seeds to soak for about 5 minutes before you prepare the smoothie.

Add remaining liquid and all other ingredients to blender.

Blend until smooth.

Stir soaked chia and blend* into smoothie with the soaking liquid on lowest setting right before serving

*Adding the soaked chia at the end prevents your smoothie from becoming sludge. Blend it in gently right before serving or simply stir your smoothie into the soaked chia.

Good Morning Protein Smoothie

This is my favorite smoothie recipe! I love using hemp protein but the flavor can be hard to stomach. In this smoothie you can't even tell it's there and the recipe packs a great serving of protein to start off a busy day. When I buy kale I put about two bunches in a dehydrator and store the preserved leaves in a mason jar. This is my favorite way to keep kale!

Ingredients

1 cup water
½ banana

½ cup frozen strawberries

¼ cup dehydrated kale (or 1 handful fresh kale)
3 tbsp Goji Berries

2 tbsp hemp protein

1 tbsp Almond butter

1 tbsp Chia Seed
1 tsp raw honey

Directions

Put half of the water in your drinking cup and add the Chia.
Put the other half of the water into your blender and add Goji Berries.

Allow chia seeds and goji berries to soak for about 5 minutes before you prepare the smoothie.

Add honey to soaked goji berries and blend to combined.

Add all of the remaining ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth.

Stir soaked chia and blend into smoothie with the soaking liquid on lowest setting right before serving, or simply stir smoothie into soaked chia.

I will be on the lookout for a “two-to-go” type case (and yes Strawesome, you have my permission to brand that awesome name!)  In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy these smoothie recipes and start every day out with a healthful drink. Cheers!

I can't really end this without saying it...

Strawesome is AWESOME!

Read below to see how you can enter our Giveaway! One winner in the US will receive a $20 gift certificate to spend on the Strawesome website!

www.strawesome.com
www.facebook.com/strawesome
www.twitter.com/BeStrawesome
https://www.pinterest.com/strawesome/

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment in this entry as instructed by the Rafflecopter, then leave the name you commented under and your email in the box in the Rafflecopter entry. (This allows us to contact you if you win!)  This will open up additional optional entries to increase your odds of winning.

This giveaway is open to US RESIDENTS ONLY
and will end just before midnight ET on 8-6-15. 

The winners will be notified by email within 24 hours after the end of the giveaway.  In order to claim the giveaway prize, the winner will need to respond within 24 hours of notification, or an alternate winner will be selected.

Once the winner(s) have responded and confirm, their first name will be posted on our Giveaways page. 

Good luck everyone!


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