Those tiny, thin coffee straws. Does anyone actually drink coffee through them or are they just glorified stirrers?
They’re stirrers, and not particularly glorified IMHO.
Um, I think they’re actually meant to be stirrers, not straws. I always assumed that the straw-like aspect of them was just an artifact of the manufacturing process.
I have seen a few very pretentious ladies drink cocktails or coffee through those straws. I suspect some may do this to avoid smearing lipstick all over the glass/cup.
But if it’s intended only to be a stirrer, wouldn’t it be easier to manufacture a flat stirring stick than a tube?
Tubes are structually stronger than flat sticks of plastic.
I always assumed that they were hollow because hollow=less plastic=lower cost. But becuase they are hollow, they are flimsy, so I use two of them.
Well for some reason in my office here they’ve provided both wooden stirrers, as well as the tiny straws. It’s inconceivable that people in my office would do something illogical, so they must be for separate purposes.
I assume the ridiculously small diameter is so that you don’t burn your mouth with the hot liquid. That make sense?
Can’t say I’ve ever seen someone drinking coffee through a straw, though.
Oh dear. When I drink cocktails I do use the stirrer as a straw. I had no idea that this made me a very pretentious lady. I use the stirrer as a cocktail straw because it makes it easier to nurse the drink if I want, it makes spills from drinking from the glass less likely and drinking with a big long straw out of a short cocktail glass looks silly.
But drinking coffee with them is dopey.
raises hand I drink coffee through them! I prefer almost everything through a straw, except seltzer water, which I like to open the can and chug while it’s still ultra-fizzy, so it burns my throat. Yum!
I just like drinks through a straw. Taste better. I highly doubt I’m pretentious, though. But according to Otto, I am dopey. 
I do it for some of the reasons **Otto ** does, too…less chance of spill, can nurse it, etc.
I agree that they’re hollow because that’s an efficient way of making them cheap.
Getting a straw in ice water that’s had lemon added can double as a stirrer and as a way to keep from swallowing lemon seeds.
Maybe coffee stirrers, when used as straws, help keep big old coffee grounds from getting in your mouth?
Actually, they are scientifically designed to be used as straws that cool the coffee so you won’t burn your mouth and file lawsuits. A small diameter straw has a larger SoS/VoC (surface-of-straw to volume-of-coffee ratio), so it will cool better than a large straw. That way, coffee vendors are legally protected from responsibility if you refuse to use the safety device they provided, and burn your mouth. [/WAG]
Sorry, nothing personal. :o
But when I see women drinking through those tiny straws it just looks like an attempt to look a little too dainty. (I’m a guy, just for the record.)
So’s Otto…a guy, that is. Not dainty. Well, not too dainty.
runs
Obligatory link to obssessive discussion on correct use of coffee stirrers.
Please note that the only mention of trying to use them as straws is for the purpose of ridicule. 
They’d be even more flimsy if they used the same amount of plastic and made a solid stick out of it instead.
Ridicule away! I like my coffee through straws.
See, one advantage of getting older and more confident is, I don’t care what people think too much anymore.
If the stirrer is too filmsy to stir cream and/or sugar into your cup of Joe, then it might be time to re-examine your coffee grounds to water ratio when brewing.
-rainy
I once drank a sip of coffee through the tiny straw/coffee stir. It burned my mouth. I spent about two seconds thinking about it and concluded that was because the coffee at the bottom of the cup was hotter not having been exposed to air, and resumed sipping directly from the cup, never to think about the issue again until now. So - really, no one else has concluded they’re more likely to burn themselves using the stir/straw?
Of course you are…but you can do it carefully and not get burned.
Seriously, almost every day I drink my coffee through a stirrer straw. I’ve not been burned for years.
I have started to see the flat plastic stirrers a lot lately in various places, but I prefer the micro straw stirrers. When used with coffee, I use them to stir the drink, then toss them in the garbage, when using them with cocktails, I use them to pin the lime against the side of the glass opposite from where I’m drinking from.