by Melody on August 27, 2010
by Melody on July 28, 2010
In January of this year I wrote a short blog post about collecting Starbucks city mugs. Six months later, my collection has grown a little, and so it’s time for a sequel to that first blog post. For those who don’t recall the first episode of collecting city mugs, here it is:
Collecting Starbucks City Mugs
Let me clarify, I have not traveled around this country and around the world to these exotic places. The truth of the matter is that there will be a number of you reading this blog who will say, “oh I sent Melody that mug!“ All I can really do is thank all the many wonderful people who made this blog post possible.
The black and white city mug requires an explanation. That black and white mug IS part of the Starbucks city mug despite that it doesn’t look like the others. It represents the Ruhrgebiet region of Germany where the major city of “Essen” is located. The region is also called “Kohlenpott” or just “Pott” as in a “pot of coal.” Starbucks produced very few of these mugs and it was sold in a few stores throughout these region. The major historic industry was coal mining, and I have heard that nowadays there are many museums and sites featuring coal mining exhibits and information. This mug truly is a part of the city mug collection but was produced as a black and white mug to give it a rugged and dirty look, representing the coal mining industry. The image on the mug is supposed to represent a large coal mine. I included one photo with the packaging so that it is more obvious that this really is part of the city mug collection.
The mug from Indonesia was sent to me from a blog reader in Jakarta. Thank you again! I feel like I should say that over and over again. For those readers who are twitterers too, you can follow Starbucks Indonesia on twitter here. The Starbucks Indonesia profile tweets in both Indonesian and English.
I pour a lot of hours each week into this blog, and it’s made much easier by the help I get from readers. I never expect surprise mugs in the mail but I appreciate it! Though if readers do have unique ideas for blog posts, tips on new stores or new food items, fabulous pictures of stores to show off (where they have the legal right to share the picture without a copyright infringement), I WELCOME emails about all of those topics and more. My email address is Sbux206@StarbucksMelody.com.
These mugs are beautiful so I have some trouble picking out a favorite. What’s your favorite?
by Melody on May 21, 2010
When it comes to merchandise for Via Ready Brew, Starbucks Japan is the mother-lode. They got all the cool schwag. It’s unbelievable. I’m so jealous and I do not understand why Starbucks plans tons of cool merchandise for Japan, but here in Seattle, we’re left out in the cold and rain. Thanks to Noboru Sakamoto the most famous Starbucks customer in Japan, StarbucksMelody gets a chance to show this merchandise off to you. Mostly this blog post is one big “how cool is that” blog entry. Remember, in Japan, Starbucks Via Ready Brew is actually called Starbucks Via Coffee Essence. It’s the same product as what we have all over the United States, just a different name.
Just a short background about this product: it was first launched in Seattle and Chicago only in March of 2009. On September 29, 2009, Starbucks launched Via throughout the United States and Canada. Also, on March 25, 2009, selected London Starbucks locations received it. The launch of Via in Japan was April 14, 2010. I covered a blog entry on it here:
I owe lots of thanks to Noboru Sakamoto for sending me some cool merchandise from Japan.
I have written about Via as blog posts so many times that the easiest way to browse them all is by using the “categories” tab. Be sure to read the blog post on the forthcoming product which is a pre-sweetened Iced Via. Here is the link to all of the Via blog posts:
Starbucks “Via” posts
The 12 ounce tumbler featured below is one single tumbler with one side of it as Columbia and the other side as Italian Roast. It almost looks like I am featuring two different tumblers so I thought I would clarify that is just one item. There are even cell phone accessories! Very cute!
So what is your prized Via schwag item,or your favorite Via Ready Brew story? What do you think of it?
by Melody on May 11, 2010
Who doesn’t love an adorable little collectible Starbucks Bearista Bear? I recently fell in love with the Via Bearista Bear, produced by Starbucks for Japan, and it inspired me to create a blog post. I wanted to provide some background information on the little bears, and realized that I knew very little. A quick Google search produced well-known blogger John Moore’s website, Brand Autopsy. John Moore, a marketing expert, spent many years working for Starbucks at the corporate headquarters in marketing, and thus is known to often write about Starbucks.
According to Mr. Moore’s website, the Bearista Bears were first introduced into the stores in 1997, when Starbucks saw sales of tumblers, mugs, and other coffee-related items slipping. The idea apparently came from a marketing executive who previously had worked for Disney. For eleven years, Starbucks sold Bearista Bears, until 2008, when Howard Schultz returned as CEO. At that time, he deemed them too far removed from the coffee heritage of Starbucks, and gave Bearista Bears the ax.
There is still a frequent cry from customers that they want their lovable collectible Bearista Bears to return to the stores. With the lovable plush Bearista Bears gone missing from the stores, customers on MyStarbucksIdea.com created threads like this one here:
Bring back the ‘real’ bearista bears
In 2009, Starbucks sold a little tiny bear, far less plush than the previous incarnations of the Bearista Bears. The scrawny, under-sized 2009 bear was dubbed the “recession bear”. I wish I had bought one to show off here! If anyone has an image they can share with me, I’d be most appreciative.
The Bearista Bear featured in the main photo, sitting atop the La Marzocco espresso machine, lives permanently at 1912 Pike Place. He was a gift to the store from the famous customer Noboru Sakamoto.
What are your thoughts on the Bearista Bears? Should they come back to the stores or should Starbucks simply avoid selling plush toys at a coffeehouse?
Edit:
Thank you to a reader for helping me out with a picture of the 2009 Starbucks “recession bear”:
As my readers know from this blog, any time of year is a fine time to talk about Christmas merchandise in a Starbucks. This extremely short blog post is simply a visual look at all the merchandise that Starbucks offered during Christmas season 2006.
![Thumbnail image for Four 1995 Starbucks coffee-stamp inspired mugs [Open thread]](http://starbucksmelody.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/thesis_16/lib/scripts/thumb.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fstarbucksmelody.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F02%2FSulawesi-118-300x265.jpg&w=66&h=66&zc=1&q=100)
yes I like VIA it’s great to keep in my desk for when I can’t get away, and it’s much better than the flavia nonsense they try and...
Commentary: Recyclable Cups & Starbucks
November 14, 2009Bring in Your Own Tumbler: This blog is about encouraging Starbucks customers to use a personal tumbler or ask for their beverage in for-here ware. Yes, of course I believe that recycling paper cups is a good idea, but there is much more to the story than simply the paper cup itself. The story is [...]