Starbuck’s coffee mugs are a great way to remember your vacation trips! When I first met my wife, I believe she had a single Starbuck’s coffee mug from Austin, Texas. As we began traveling together, she asked me to stop once or twice on some of our early adventures so she could get a local Starbuck’s coffee mug as a keepsake of the trip. The first few we got were of the same style, then she mentioned that they did not sell that version of mug anymore. Well, at least not in the United States. We have found those more impressive coffee mugs in Europe and Mexico. The newer mugs have what I could only describe as more “elementary school” graphics. Don’t get me wrong, a few of them are really nice, but some are just down right ugly in my opinion. During a casual conversation with my folks, my mother mentioned that many people collected the Starbuck’s mugs. In fact, she stated that some of them sold for big bucks on eBay. Well, following our recent trip to the Pacific Northwest, I found that my knowledge of the Starbuck’s coffee mug culture was very lacking.
Starbuck’s coffee mug history and collections
I mentioned above that my knowledge of the Starbuck’s coffee mug culture was very lacking. I discovered this upon our recent return when, ironically enough, I was searching for Starbuck’s coffee mugs on eBay. We looked at the Vancouver edition of the new mugs, but it was not very attractive. My wife chose the Canada version instead. I thought for sure that Starbuck’s would not have one for Victoria, Canada, as the city is somewhat small with a metropolitan area of around 350,000 people. When we continued on to Seattle, we stopped at the local Starbuck’s by our hotel, just up Pine Street from the Pike Place Market. The city mug was once again disappointing, so the Washington state mug was the cup of choice. Well, while searching on eBay, I found that there was actually a Vancouver Island Starbuck’s mug. The southern tip of Vancouver Island is where Victoria is located, so it turned out that the Island actually had its own mug. It was also a pretty nice looking mug. I also found that there is a dedicated mug for the Pike Place Market Starbuck’s, and again it was pretty sharp looking. These are 2 additional mugs we could have added to the collection, had I known about them.
Well, now I know how to see what mugs are available from all the different series of coffee mug releases. I found a great website that has a complete list, or close to it, I’m guessing. It also has pictures of the different mugs in each series, if you select the one you want to see from the drop down menu. Just head over to starbucks-city-mugs.com/
