# What are those little plastic sticks for at Starbucks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094 "2013-03-27T12:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![patrician](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@patrician](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/patrician)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/1 "2013-03-27T12:59:23Z")
Even the baristas can’t tell me. At one of the Starbuck’s I frequent, they automatically stick a little plastic “swizzle stick” in that tiny hole in the lid of the to-go cup. Why? At my favorite one, they never do, although they’re there for folks to grab if they want. some people automatically put one in. So I asked - “what’s that do?” and no one knows. Let’s hear from the folks who use them to find out why. Inquiring minds want to know. something about the foam? Shamefully trivial. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/2 "2013-03-27T13:03:36Z")
I don’t go to Starbucks - don’t have them here - but isn’t it to stir the sugar? ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/3 "2013-03-27T13:05:48Z")
I just figured it was to help the coffee stay hot longer or to keep it from spilling on you before you are ready to drink it. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/4 "2013-03-27T13:07:37Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I don’t go to Starbucks - don’t have them here - but isn’t it to stir the sugar? No, it’s much sillier than that. It’s like a little lid for the drink-hole, and only sticks down about an inch, if that. I’m wondering if it’s to keep foam from overflowing, or reduce little dribbles when taking it out to your car. ---
**Author:** ![patrician](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@patrician](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/patrician)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/5 "2013-03-27T13:09:23Z")
These are only three inches long, they are not sugar stirrers. The coffee top is already on when they pop in these little spears. And there are two holes in the top - the bigger one to sip through so that little hole’s being plugged isn’t going to keep it warm. Anyone work at Starbuck’s who knows what these are for? ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/6 "2013-03-27T13:11:03Z")
It’s called a splash stick, at least around here. It’s designed to keep the coffee from splashing out while driving it home. A couple of good bumps on the road can make an impressive puddle on my center console. Frivolous, but quite useful. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/7 "2013-03-27T13:52:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I don’t go to Starbucks - don’t have them here - but isn’t it to stir the sugar? They don’t? I smell a business opportunity. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/8 "2013-03-27T13:54:52Z")
> [@patrician](#): > > Even the baristas can’t tell me. At one of the Starbuck’s I frequent, they automatically stick a little plastic “swizzle stick” in that tiny hole in the lid of the to-go cup. Why? Seriously, the baristas weren’t told what they are? They are to stop the coffee from floofing out as you drive. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/9 "2013-03-27T14:00:24Z")
> [@Yorikke](#): > > Seriously, the baristas weren’t told what they are? They are to stop the coffee from floofing out as you drive. Exactly. It isn’t that much of a problem for black coffee, but everybody orders a megafrothycrappaccino, extra foam these days and the slightest bump can cause that concoction to foam out the hole and all over your cup holder. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/10 "2013-03-27T14:07:21Z")
Are we talking about [this thing](http://pegasusnews.com/media/img/photos/2008/04/14/thumbs/cup.jpg.728x520_q85.jpg)? As others have said, it’s a plug to prevent spills. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/11 "2013-03-27T14:16:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Exactly. It isn’t that much of a problem for black coffee, but everybody orders a megafrothycrappaccino, extra foam these days and the slightest bump can cause that concoction to foam out the hole and all over your cup holder. Well, then. Ban the sploosh sticks, then. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/12 "2013-03-27T14:25:53Z")
Huh…weird. Twice in the past couple weeks I’ve read about these things on two different message boards, and I’ve never seen them before. I’ve been in Starbucks (Starbuckses?) plenty of times before, all over the country (well, 90% in the northeast, anyway) and never encountered them before. ---
**Author:** ![patrician](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@patrician](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/patrician)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/13 "2013-03-27T14:39:15Z")
I’m in the northeast, some have them and use them, some have them and don’t use them, and some don’t have them at all. I’m talking from NYC to Boston corridor. I regularly get a vente size thing with foam - depending on the time of day it might be a macchiato (not sweet), or a latte, and I never use a stick and I drive - no foam problem. a solution for which there is no problem in my opinion. I also go to a non-Starbuck’s upper-scale coffee house where they make designs in the macchiato and there is lots of foam. No sticks. ---
**Author:** ![Mauvaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mauvaise/32/11084_2.png) [@Mauvaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mauvaise)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/14 "2013-03-27T14:43:06Z")
> [@Yorikke](#): > > Seriously, the baristas weren’t told what they are? They are to stop the coffee from floofing out as you drive. They are told what they are in my neck of the woods. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/15 "2013-03-27T14:46:53Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > They don’t? I smell a business opportunity. 🙂 They tried and failed. Or more precisely - they tried, people liked it, local entrepreneurs copied their business model, the copies were better, Starbucks folded. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/16 "2013-03-27T14:48:01Z")
Ah, obviously no one here has ever been the low man sent out to get coffee for bigwigs. You use stoppers when you are schlepping around two drink trays full of lattes and mochas and americanos that you don’t want to spill or spill on the top. Because you will get yelled at. Or fired. Or both. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/17 "2013-03-27T14:56:27Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > They tried and failed. Or more precisely - they tried, people liked it, local entrepreneurs copied their business model, the copies were better, Starbucks folded. ✡Bucks? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/18 "2013-03-27T15:30:45Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Huh…weird. Twice in the past couple weeks I’ve read about these things on two different message boards, and I’ve never seen them before. I’ve been in Starbucks (Starbuckses?) plenty of times before, all over the country (well, 90% in the northeast, anyway) and never encountered them before. Maybe it’s regional. Here, they’ve been around for years. I initially wondered what they were for, but when I spilled hot coffee (just plain ol’ coffee, which is all i get there) on myself walking home, I figured it out. (My initial encounters with the stick had me throwing it away upon receipt of the coffee.) ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/19 "2013-03-27T17:50:34Z")
> [@patrician](#): > > a solution for which there is no problem in my opinion. I use the sticks because when I walk with a cup of liquid the liquid shoots up out of the hole in the lid onto my hands, gloves, sleeves, chest. There’s something wrong with the way I walk that makes it incompatible with lids with openings. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094/20 "2013-03-27T18:31:12Z")
Did [Lieutenant Starbuck](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/StarbuckSystem.jpg) have a specific question? I always wanted to know where he got those damn fumerellos from. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-little-plastic-sticks-for-at-starbucks/654094.md?page=2)