Starbucks straws vs. sippy cups: Which is better for your teeth?

Starbucks, America’s favorite coffee chain and purveyor of hip acoustic soundtracks, announced on Monday that it plans to take its hometown of Seattle’s recent ban on plastic straws one step further. By 2020, every single one of the company’s 28,000 stores worldwide will phase out plastic straws by replacing their current lids with a strawless version that some have described as “adult sippy cups.” If you’ve ordered a nitro cold brew in recent months, the new lids will look familiar; but if you haven’t yet had the pleasure, the company describes the lids as featuring “a teardrop-shaped opening about the size of a thumbprint—a cleaner, less-ridged version of a hot cup lid.” The lids were initially designed to allow customers to “exult in the frothy foam,” which the Starbucks engineer calls “the hero of Nitro coffee,” and unlike straws, are recyclable. The move is one that is undoubtedly beneficial for the environment—a study from earlier this year estimated that as many as 8.3 billion plastic straws end up polluting the world’s beaches. If you then put hard bristles on it by brushing immediately afterwards that can worsen the problem.” If you don’t want to take any of those precautions, Starbucks is currently testing out eco-friendly straws made out of either paper or compostable plastic, so you can still enjoy your daily iced soy no-whip, no-foam macchiato with reduced dental damage—for now.