2,000 lucky suckers will get a McDonald’s Shamrock Shake straw so they can simultaneously slurp the mint and chocolate layers of the cold concoction which McDonald's offers every year between Valentine's and St. Patrick's Day.
The specially engineered straws will be given out free in 80 different cities through mid-March, according to Mental Floss. Those who miss out can still enjoy a shake but will have to use an old-fashioned straw.
According to Co.Design, the “spectacularly unnecessary” STRAW (Suction Tube for Reverse Axial Withdrawal) was designed by engineers at the JACE and NK Labs – two aerospace and robotics engineering firms.
The straws have an unconventional “sharp bend” and three “eye-shaped holes.” The straw has an extra hole at the bottom.
The straws were designed specifically so McDonald’s consumers could now enjoy equally the mint and chocolate layers in the seasonal shake, which has been around for decades, said Mental Floss.
“My first reaction was, that doesn’t seem too hard. We could have a double straw – one longer, one shorter. No problem,” said Seth Newburg, the principal engineer and managing partner at NK Labs, per Co.Design. “Then we immediately thought, once you get halfway down, one straw is going to start sucking air…It’s one of those things that seems so simple, but as we got into it there were a lot more issues exposed. It turned out to present quite a few engineering and scientific challenges.”
“A lot of designs we came up with would work well when the shake was full, or might work when the shake was empty, but in a lot of situations, we found if we didn’t get the diameters just right, we’d end up drawing in air, or the first few sips would be good, but you had to wait a minute for the straw to be recharged.”
According to Today.com, Shamrock Shakes are a major draw for McDonald’s and four different Shamrock Shakes are available: Shamrock Chocolate Chip Frappe, Chocolate Shamrock Shake, Shamrock Shake, and the Shamrock Mocha.
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