Mug Rant: Will I Keep Collecting?

I collect Starbucks mugs. No, not the little ones with the Starbucks logo or the shiny tumblers, I collect the travel mugs. I have been collecting them for almost 10 years and my collection has come to about 40 mugs, consisting of different collections. As someone who wants to keep collecting and genuinely enjoys collecting them, I hesitate, especially in recent years. It is yo girl emilia, and I am here to explain the overall history and my history with Starbucks travel mugs.

History

Starbucks, the iconic American coffee chain that has expanded internationally, is known for its exciting drinks and its merchandise. People go crazy and buy out merchandise when seasonal exclusive cups, tumblers, and mugs come out. Especially if it is regional. Introducing: wonderful mugs unique to the place you traveled to! Did you love your time in New York City and want to get a mug to remember your trip? Get it at Starbucks! There is a Wikipedia page (link here) with each travel collection that has been released by Starbucks ever since 1994, but you get the gist. 

There are websites that are dedicated to communities of avid Starbucks mug collectors to notify when a new mug is out, which collection it is a part of, and how much it is. (here it is if you are curious) I admit, I even had an Instagram account dedicated to Starbucks mugs and posted updates about new mugs. 

The You Are Here collection was released in 2013 and that is the largest part of my collection. It started in the US with mainly major cities and then it was introduced in Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. They even have released Christmas editions for some locations and have released small mug ornaments that look similar to their mug counterpart. For easy reference, YAH = You are Here, BTS = Been There Series.

My Grievances with the Been there Series

In 2018, Starbucks released a new mug collection named the "Been there Series" that started in the US. It was different from the You are Here Collection in that the drawings on the mugs had harsh lines, there were more words, and the drawings wrapped around the mugs from top to bottom (versus the YAH on the bottom). I was surprised about this new collection of mugs, especially because Starbucks had only started releasing the YAH mugs internationally in a previous couple of years. Why launch a new collection when you are bringing in a new audience from around the world that will eventually want to collect the US versions of the You Are Here collection? 

My first mug from this collection was the New Mexico mug, and I was happy about it because it had all sorts of drawings and doodles highlighting the nature and culture of the state after my family trip to Santa Fe. It has this warm color scheme and it is a blood orange color on the inside. I will admit, when I showed up at Starbucks, I was slightly disappointed to find that they no longer had the You are Here collection. Mostly because I really liked the turquoise blue accents that remind me of the beautiful native turquoise jewelry my mom and I buy in Santa Fe. When you look between these two mugs, you are introduced to a double-edged sword with the Been There Series: drawings that either represent your destination well or make the mug overcrowded busy & messy. 

Been there Series (the one I own)

You are Here Mug

The second mug I acquired from the Been there Series was the Chicago mug. In contrast to my slight disappointment in how the New Mexico mug changed from series to series, I love the change with the Chicago mug. 

Been there Series Chicago Mug (I own)

You are Here Chicago Mug (I also own)

I loved the change to more of a blue and grey theme versus the strange orange in the YAH collection. Plus there were more doodles of the iconic city to enjoy! After acquiring this mug, I then started doing research on how many of these mugs they had released and where they were planning on expanding this collection. That was when my surprise/disappointment came in.

The unoriginality of color palettes

Dear reader, what do we notice between these sets of mugs? That the San Fran and NYC mug have the same color palette as the Chicago mug? With the same exact color inside as well? Or what about these below? Three states that are relatively near each other and yet they all have the same blue and orange color palette??

This is my issue with the Been There Series, they have like only 5-7 color palettes and just rotate them between each city, state, and significant attraction. This means that if you collect them, you eventually have sets of mugs that look almost exactly the same. "But Emilia, you still have collected mugs from this collection...why?" Great question, let's talk about doubles. 

When I was talking about the Chicago mugs up above, I mentioned that I actually own both mugs from the two collections. Technically, my mom owns the Been There Series Chicago mug, but I digress. The only other places I own doubles for are New Orleans and Texas, and that is because the New Orleans one is gorgeous and I got the Texas one for "free". So for the most part, I have only gotten the Been There Series mugs if I considered them an upgrade or if it is from a location that I want a mug from. Let's look at the next case of mugs that made me reconsider buying the Been There Series. 

Florida You are Here (I own)

Florida Been There Series (I do not own)

NEW ORLEANS BEEN THERE SERIES MUG THAT I OWN THAT ALSO HAS THE SAME COLOR SCHEME AS THE FLORIDA MUG

Earlier this summer I was in Florida and I contemplated getting the Been There Series mug. I really like the Florida You are Here series mug (the yellow one), it is one of the first mugs in my collection. I love the soft color combo of yellow, pink, and blue in the original YAH style. When looking ahead to see what the Florida mug looked like, I was again disappointed that it had the same color scheme as the New Orleans mug. I decided not to get the mug for multiple reasons. 

1. I did not want another Florida mug when I already like and enjoy my YAH Florida mug.
2. I did not want ANOTHER pink and green color combo mug in my collection. 
3. My mom was like "Mila, no." Fair enough. 

This moment kind of solidified how I wanted to collect mugs in the future. 

Final Thoughts and Grievances

In the past, whenever I saw a You are Here mug, I wanted to get it. The YAH collection was far more scarce than how BTS is today. There was not a YAH mug for Wyoming back then, but with the BTS there is. As I mentioned earlier above, YAH has expanded internationally to Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. BTS has been introduced all over North and South America and there have been collections released in parts of Asia as well. 

My future really comes down to where is the mug from and what it looks like. Two of my most recent mugs were from Costa Rica when I was there in March (Been there Series) and I bought them because I enjoyed my time there and I liked how they looked. I also drove through Mississippi and Alabama earlier this year, yet I did not want to get the mugs from those states! Differences folks, differences!

So yes, I do plan on collecting still, I will just be more selective, especially for the Been There Series. 

My primary "wishlist" when it comes to mugs is the You Are Here collection, especially in Europe. In the US they were a little bit simpler in design compared to how the mugs in Europe look and I love the different color schemes of the mugs over there. Every. Mug. Has. A. Different. Color. Scheme. The You Are Here mug is also the reason why I started collecting in the first place, the abstract yet geometrical designs and line-less designs were nostalgic and artistic to me. In some ways, the Been There Series seem to be more touristy and souvenir-like, which I get is the point. Still, it sometimes appears to be more of a cash grab or mass-produced souvenir tactic than making a mug that artistically represents the destination. There is something fun about drinking your coffee in the morning and trying to figure out what each of the buildings and icons is on your mug. I wanted to end this post by showing some of my favorites You are Here mugs to truly show you the difference between the 2 collections and I hope to try and collect as many as I want before the Been there Series eventually gets launched over there. 

I own this one and I love the primary color scheme. It makes me so happy <3

My mouth dropped when I saw this one. Such a cool-looking mug

This one is so pretty too. I love the famous icons of Rome and the Gladiator helmet. 

I remember seeing the Dubai one and literally watching flights to Dubai for weeks to try and get that mug, this UAE mug is even better!

Thank you for reading this slight rant dear reader. For some reason, I just had the itch to share my frustrations with this new collection and admire some of the cool YAH mugs. If you are curious as to what is in my collection, you can check out this blog post here: https://yogirlemilia.blogspot.com/2021/04/my-current-starbucks-mug-collection.html I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week!

love, 

yo girl emilia, your local neighborhood mug collector