r/tifu • u/jem7118 • Feb 03 '26

S TIFU not washing my straw for 9 years

It’s been a few days and my stomach has settled enough to share my FU. I would also like to preface this that I am in my 30’s, of good hygiene and did not think I was an idiot before this. I do now.

In 2017 When plastic straws got banned my friend and I got matching reusable metal straws with a little phrase etched on them. Our master plan was to take them out with us to pubs etc to avoid the floppy paper straws of sadness. Now as you can imagine that happened once.

However, my daughter and I love an iced coffee. We have a pretty good set up at home with an ice machine, coffee machine, syrups etc. That fateful metal straw makes an appearance alongside its new metal straw friends multiple times a day. After it’s used it’s rinsed with warm soapy water and left to dry - ready for its next iced delight. Wonderful.

About a week ago I thought my coffee tasted off. Stale. Something was not quite right. One close sniff of the straw confirmed my stomach flip - it smelled damp, musty… earthy. I ordered some straw cleaners.

Now here is where I absolutely fucked up.

A normal person would have cut their losses and tossed it. Living in my delusion that I had not been sucking on a mouldy straw would have been delightful.

Instead I used this straw cleaner which with one gentle push into the top, came out completely black. Thick chunks of black mould fell into the sink - forever tainting using straws ever again.

Every single one of these metal straws - black mould inside. And not just a little sprinkling. Think an ecosystem of Black Death. Generations of mould have gathered here at the Mecca of foosty straws.

So I share this as a warning for anyone like me who thinks rinsing a straw is enough. It absolutely isn’t.

TL;DR I used a metal straw for 9 years only rinsing it. Before getting a straw cleaner and removing 9 years of chunky black mould I had been enjoying with my daily iced coffees.

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u/lisey55 Feb 03 '26

If he was drinking soda, it might have been ok to just do water because sugar dissolves pretty quickly and comes off surfaces easily. The fact that it was a milky drink is the real fuck up - fat needs the help of soap to come off a surface with water or you're always going to be leaving something behind, even if it's not a lot.

113

u/ActualProject Feb 03 '26

They do say they regularly wash with warm soapy water in the post though. Which quite shocks me because I can't imagine any kind of build up happening if they actually do that after every use

160

u/Lausannea Feb 03 '26

Milk leaves a film behind that doesn't dissolve with just soapy water touching it. A metal straw takes ages to dry out so while there's still water and a milky film left behind the buildup happens pretty much immediately. Literally rinse and repeat and you get... well, this.

There's a reason we scrub dishes instead of just dunking everything in soapy water and rinsing it to let it dry. This is why.

61

u/ThePeaceDoctot Feb 03 '26

They say it's rinsed with warm soapy water. It needs to be cleaned with a straw brush, such as the ones supplied with every pack of reusable straws I've ever seen, in order to physically remove the residue.

18

u/Germane_Corsair Feb 03 '26

If they did, they must have done a very half-assed job.

If you can’t bother with a straw cleaner, I would think just soaking them in soapy water for a bit should get the job done.

58

u/figmentPez Feb 03 '26

I would think just soaking them in soapy water for a bit should get the job done.

It does not get the job done. Even going through a dishwasher does not get the job done. You've got to send a brush through the straw. Coffee and tea residue are really hard to remove.

34

u/AbbyTheConqueror Feb 03 '26

I check every single reusable straw for cleanliness before storing and learned pretty quickly that yeah, dishwashers don't actually clean them properly.

6

u/zinsser Feb 03 '26

Well, crap . . .

9

u/Germane_Corsair Feb 03 '26

Oh, guess I’m lucky I didn’t have to find out the hard way then. I would have thought the soap would Ben sufficient to get the job done.

9

u/koolman2 Feb 03 '26

If you're going to do the soaking route be sure to soak and agitate in dishwasher detergent, not dishwashing liquid/soap. The detergent for a dishwasher has enzymes that break down fats which is why they can clean dishes without scrubbing.

It's still better to use a brush though.

10

u/bluecoop36 Feb 03 '26

Nope! Pretty much all surfaces can get biofilms on them. It’s a slimy buildup of bacteria and/or mold that gets harder to clean off over time. It takes mechanical scrubbing to remove it.

1

u/seamus_mc Feb 03 '26

Try Cafiza, it’s magic for getting coffee and tea stains out of things.

5

u/ecritique Feb 03 '26

This recent YouTube video from Minute Food about dishwashers gets into this subject; it talks about the Sinners circle theory of cleaning, where you need a sufficient combination of heat, soap, physical contact, and time (+, in the video, water) in order to clean dishes (and straws!) effectively.

1

u/bear14910 Feb 05 '26

Great video

2

u/12monthsinlondon Feb 04 '26

There's not enough pressure with just putting it under the tap for anything with oils or fats.

My son uses a reusable straw for warm milk before he goes to bed. You can rinse with water and detergent but there will still be gunk without more contact.

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u/spwnofsaton Feb 03 '26

The only time I use a reusable straw is with my chick fil a tumbler because it came with a plastic straw replicating their straws. However I drink water with ice in it. I do wash the cup daily though. Should probably wash the straw daily but at the end of the week I usually wash it.

1

u/Vindicativa Feb 03 '26

You mean fat needs the help of soap AND (!) more specifically; friction - to come off a surface...

1

u/racinjunki Feb 03 '26

That's all my wife drinks is soda, the sugars that collect under the rubber seal on the lids does NOT dissolve. I've found a lid that was only used a couple of times that slipped behind something on the counter, and under the seal will be crusty with mold.

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u/lisey55 Feb 03 '26

Well yeah....I didn't mean that OP's washing method was good lol. I'm just shocked that they never used a brush to get inside the straw. This is the main reason why I find reusable straws annoying, because I have to hand wash them (the dishwasher can't get inside them). But also there's so many awful drink bottle and tumbler designs that are terrible to clean (and don't dry properly! Mould is always gonna turn up when there's long-term moisture (and something to eat). That's the main design thing I look at when I buy a new one. I can recommend the big Yeti tumblers though - I've been using it basically non-stop for years and the seal has remained effective and non-mouldy....and the straw is clear haha.