I'll have to have a few more cups before I cover it but I've been
enjoying some Green Mate I came across. It is an unfermented mate and
very enjoyable... except for the poor first attempts to enjoy it at
work. I assumed I could manage it in my gaiwan but the tiny shavings
of the mate make it through even the tiniest crack. I endured two cups
battling it the whole time and then improvised one of my better
solutions as of late.

My initial idea was to flatten a straw and staple it mid way
vertically to create two small channels on the end in the drink, but
my aversion to metal held me off. Then I hit upon using a sacrificial
lipton tea bag from the office to cover one end of the straw and
create a filter that way, but I really didn't like the wastefulness of
dumping out (even bad) tea and the teabags. Then, light bulb! A coffee
stirrer straw, the little ones which are like double-barreled mini
straws! It's just like my initial idea but no metal, and reusable.

So all day I've enjoyed my gaiwan/stirrer combo happily with no
sputtering on mate. I'm a big fan of office MacGyver-ing. From my
(should be patent-pending) paperclip cube wall calendar holders to my
hard drive platter rear-view mirrors... and don't get me started on
binder clips.

- Dominic