Starbucks released the designs for its 2024 holiday cups, prompting mixed reactions from coffee lovers.
The festive selection includes four vibrantly colored hot drink glasses with eye-catching designs to enjoy the holiday season. There is also a glass for cold drinks with winter details in white.
The company revealed the glasses that will debut on Thursday, November 7 in Saturday statement.
A lively Instagram video showed the “behind the scenes” of the creation of the mugs.
“Graphic elements include charms that look like vintage Christmas ornaments or mints, which appear on mugs and products,” the company wrote.
Starbucks revealed new Christmas cup designs to kick off the holiday season
The festive glasses will be available starting Thursday, November 7.
A Christmas mug for iced drinks with delicate details was also announced on Saturday.
Starbucks Creative Director Kristy Cameron said: “We love finding these genuine moments of joy and coffee to inspire creativity.
“Whether the coffee trees are growing, the beans are roasting, the cups are roasting or the lights are turning on, we wanted to share the warmth of our coffee shop and the anticipation of the arrival of red cups with our customers and partners.”
Some Starbucks fans were delighted with the new designs and expressed their excitement in the comments section of the Instagram announcement.
One user said: ‘They are so cute and cheerful!’
‘Beautiful and vibrant this year! I love it,” another chimed in.
The company shared its excitement about the news in an Instagram post.
Others did not share this enthusiasm.
Starbucks said people magazine: “For many customers, the return of Starbucks holiday cups marks the start of the season.”
But as the comments section revealed, these designs didn’t put many people in a festive mood.
“I feel like these have less and less holiday themes each year,” wrote one disappointed customer.
Someone clearly wrote that these mugs are “ugly” and several others asked for more “traditional” Christmas designs for next year.
Coffee lovers had mixed reviews of the mugs, with many people asking for more “traditional” designs.
‘These mugs don’t scream vacation at all! It’s back to the holiday “feeling”,’ said one user.
The ‘Warm Wishes’ mug features multi-coloured polka dots that resemble Christmas lights and the background of coffee cups when people say ‘cheers’ to each other.
Another variety, the ‘Joyful Connection’ mug, has patterns of striped circles that look like the trays on which roasted coffee beans are cooled.
The ‘Lyrical Landscape’ glass has intertwining spiral lines. Starbucks wrote that it is supposed to represent ribbons and “the green hills where coffee is grown.”
The ‘Siren Chorus’ option was inspired by the patterns created by raking coffee beans and the ‘flowing lines’ of the company’s signature mermaid logo.
The new mugs feature shades of green, pink, red and white around the iconic mermaid.
These hot drink glasses include shades of green, red, white and pink.
Before sharing the news about the 2024 holiday cups, Starbucks revealed its plans to stop charging extra for non-dairy milk in drinks.
This change will reduce the cost of some customers’ drinks by up to 10 per cent and will come into effect on the same day as the new Christmas mugs.
“This is just one of many changes we will make to ensure a visit to Starbucks is worth it every time,” CEO Brian Niccol said of the decision to go dairy-alternative.
Niccol, who recently left his position as CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill to run Starbucks, said CNBC about another major change being made: Starbucks will go back to writing customers’ names by hand.
Starbucks also announced other changes, including a return to handwritten names.
He told the outlet: ‘The number I heard was something like about 200,000 Sharpies that we have to track down.
“Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as going to Staples and buying some Sharpies.”
He believes this creates a more personal experience for customers.