Why this straw earns its place
The spiral stripe is the one straw pattern that has never gone away, and in black and white it stays on the right side of retro. It is a deliberate piece of styling rather than a neutral: put it in a clear highball and the diagonal reads instantly, which is why it turns up in monochrome bars, in soda-fountain and diner service, and in front of a camera. On a drinks menu that is otherwise plain glass and clear liquid, the stripe is often the only bit of pattern on the table, and it does the work of a garnish for the price of a straw.
Twenty centimetres is the length that suits the glassware it ends up in — it stands proud of a highball or collins so a guest can pick it up without fishing, and it stays upright in a shorter tumbler over ice rather than dropping below the surface. Paper is what UK bars moved to after single-use plastic straws were banned from hospitality supply, and it needs handling to match: it softens the longer it sits in liquid, so it goes in as the drink is passed over, and it is stored dry and off the wet bar. Damp storage takes the crispness out of the stripe as well as the straw.
