McDonald's Designed A STRAW So You Can Get The Most Out Of Your Shamrock Shakes

McDonald's has recently debuted its annual line of Shamrock Shakes, featuring a new McCafé Shamrock Chocolate Shake with chocolate syrup and mint sprinkles, but that's not all. McDonald's wants you to make the most of your shake experience with its Suction Tube for Reverse Axial Withdrawal (STRAW), a straw designed specifically for the new frozen mint chocolate treat.

The fast-food chain called in the help of NK Labs and JACE Design, whose previous clients include Google's Project Ara and NASA, to design its latest menu item.

"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," Seth Newburg, principal engineer and managing partner at NK Labs, told Fast Company.

The unique J-shaped straw and the placement of the four holes (with one at the bottom of the straw) were strategically designed to prevent the intake of air and get the most of each chocolate and mint flavor at any point of drinking your dual-layered Shamrock Shake.

Free STRAWs will roll out in 80 cities over the next few weeks; however, the item is limited, with only 2,000 units produced, so order those shakes fast.