GlassDharma, The Elegance of Glass Straws

I’m excited to feature GlassDharma in our online store and I wanted to take a few minutes to let people know why glass straws excite me (besides me being excited but such simple things). Okay, that’s probably why. But, humor me for a moment!

In 2009 we wrote up their press release, but that was then and now that we’ve had a few years utilizing the glass straws here at our house I’m glad to bring the message to the rest of the world. When I was first introduced to GlassDharma I sorta knew, “these guys are brilliant” as it was a very simple design which, when you think about it, has been around for years on other cordial glassware and grappa glassware–but built into the design. GlassDharma separates the need to have the sipping straw built into the glass by making it a bit more versatile: highball, lowballs, collins, whatever!

I did write a fairly extensive article on GlassDharma products on our store site, but I think it’s worth emphasizing some of the key benefits that I’ve enjoyed as a GlassDharma straw owner. Okay, I do believe my kids tend to utilize the glass straws more than I do myself and when I do go to use them they’re typically sitting in the dishwasher so my experience tends to be second-hand living vicariously through nine and seven year-old children.

So, when I asked my daughter “why do you like the glass straws?” her first answer was “well…they’re cool to use.” Then she followed with how fancy they look in drinks, better than “those bendy straws” and also mentioned the fact that she can just wash them and reuse them. She knows, if she burns through plastic straws and the box is gone it may be months before I remember to buy more.

My kids are pretty conscious of the environment and recycling, which is over-emphasized in school. Sometimes, they learn something new about recycling and come home and demand we change our lifestyle to fit their new model they learned at school. When they need to throw something out, they always ask me which trash it goes in: recycling or regular trash. While GlassDharma has positive messaging around environmental concerns and the eco-friendly glass straw business, my kids live that lifestyle day in and day out and just know the reasons to use a glass straw over plastic and that’s pretty darn amazing to my generation.

It took years to convince me that recycling wasn’t some scam that the garbage company was using to force me to buy blue and orange bins or spare trash cans specific for the right products. As we’ve grown our recycle programs, we’ve learned more effective ways of sorting garbage. New technology and understandings have made the barrier to entry much easier than when I was a kid (separating glass, from plastic from colored paper, news paper, regular paper, etc.) Yet, at the same time, the best way to deal with recycling is to not always go to it for answers.

Reusing straws requires less energy to clean, less chemicals, less power and less overall manpower. They also make even the basic water vessel just that much more fancy and fun to work with at dinner and dessert. I don’t think it takes a lot of effort to convince someone to buy a more environmentally friendly solution to straws so the next question becomes, is it a worthwhile investment quality wise?

Of course! You’ll never get a high adoption rate on glass straws if the quality is poor because you’d end up tossing out broken straws more often than not and… if you’re tossing out glass straws you might as well go with plastic. GlassDharma believes in the quality of their products so they’re willing to put it all on the line and guarantee the straw will not accidentally break…ever. Sure, if you toss it at a wall or your buddy, there is a chance of breaking, but under normal conditions this high quality glass should not break or chip. If it does, send it back to the place you bought it (hopefully us!)

So sum it up: quality glassware, sexy design, useful accessory and eco-friendly outcome. Sounds like a win, win…win!