The short answer
You do not start with a straw you bought. A sign near the spawn point reads FREE STRAW, and pressing E puts a striped straw in your hand. From there the official description says you sell treasure to the merchant for bigger, stronger straws, and that later straws are strong enough to pull a whirlpool.
That is the entire verified upgrade system. The game does not publish a straw tier list on its listing, and this page does not invent one.
How to upgrade a straw, in order
Confirm the straw is equipped
After taking the free straw, the model is visible in first person and the prompt changes to Hold to drink the sea. If you still see the free-straw prompt, the pickup did not register.
Earn money with treasure, not with time
Money comes from selling what the receding sea uncovers. The HUD money counter starts at $0, and the bag counter limits how much you can carry per trip.
Sell at the merchant
The merchant stall sits on the spawn beach. The pause menu also binds Q to Sell anywhere (Auto-Sell Charm), which implies a charm can remove the walk back once you own it.
Read the price in the shop window
Prices are not published here because the merchant interface was not opened during this research pass. Read the number in your own session; it is the only current source.
Test the new straw at the same spot
Return to the same waterline and drink for the same length of time. A faster-moving percentage is evidence the upgrade worked; a different location is not.
Measure a straw instead of guessing at one
The build does not print a drain rate anywhere, so the only honest way to compare two straws is a test you run yourself and write down. Pick one waterline spot and keep using it. Pause before you start and note the drain percentage and your money, because the pause panel prints both at the moment you press Escape.
Hold the drink button for a fixed count, pause again, and note the percentage. The difference between the two readings is your measurement. Repeat it with the next straw at the same spot and the same count: a larger difference means the upgrade changed the rate, and an identical one means it did not change the rate you can see, whatever the shop text implies.
What to record so the numbers stay comparable
- The build string the game reports. It read 1.0.4 during this wiki's pass, and a patch can move every number underneath it.
- The date of the test, because a price copied from a month-old video is not evidence about today's shop.
- The price shown in the merchant window at the moment you buy, rather than a figure another guide quotes.
- The drain percentage before and after the fixed-length drink, plus the count you used.
- The depth readout, because a test started at a different sea level is not comparable to the previous one.
What is confirmed, and what is not
- Confirmed: the starter straw is free and picked up at spawn with E.
- Confirmed: the merchant buys treasure and sells stronger straws, per the official description.
- Confirmed: later straws are described as strong enough to pull a whirlpool.
- Confirmed: the pause menu includes an auto-sell charm binding and a sponge bomb binding, so items beyond the straw exist.
- Unverified: straw names, tier order, individual prices, and whether upgrades persist between sessions.
Straw upgrade questions
How do you get a better straw in Drink the Ocean?
Take the free straw at spawn, collect treasure from the exposed seabed, sell it to the merchant, and spend the money on the next straw in the shop.
What is the best straw?
Unverified. The official listing only says straws get bigger and stronger and that late ones pull a whirlpool. It does not rank them, so any tier list you see for this build should be treated as unconfirmed.
Is the auto-sell charm an upgrade?
It is bound to Q as Sell anywhere (Auto-Sell Charm), which makes it an item you can own rather than a base control. How it is acquired was not verified.
Sources and references
- Drink The Ocean — official Mana listing
Source for genre, mode, player count, input, platform and the developer-written description of drinking, treasure, the merchant and the shipwreck.
Accessed - Play Drink The Ocean on Mana
Official browser entry point. The desktop-only notice and the embedded build (1.0.4 with a WebGL fallback) were observed here on 2026-11-15.
Accessed - Brimlo — I Drank 100% of the OCEAN With a Straw
Creator playthrough used for visual context only. Its main menu and HUD match a local capture of the Mana build, but prices and timings in a recording are not current facts.
Accessed
