Starbucks Alaska mug: Discovery Series

By The Starbucks Cups team · Last checked 2026-11-14 · How we make these pages

Starbucks Discovery Series Alaska mug with sled dogs, a floatplane, an eagle and blue flowers around the word ALASKA — Front view · numbered markers match the list below Show markers

Alaska's state flower (forget-me-not), state land mammal (moose) and state sport (a dog-mushing team and musher), a bald eagle, a floatplane, a dome train that looks like the Alaska Railroad's, a spruce, an igloo, a bear and a kayaker.

Series: Discovery Series
Place: Alaska, USA
Type: Mug
Released: Not confirmed
Capacity: 14 fl ozStarbucks's Discovery Series launch story calls it the 14-ounce ceramic mug
SKU: Not confirmed

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The musher who drove past the serum

On 31 January 1925 Leonhard Seppala drove straight past the serum he had been sent to fetch ^[2]. He had left Nome with 20 dogs, thinking he must run all the way to Nulato and back ^[1]. There was no way to tell him that more drivers had been added to the relay and that the package was coming to meet him ^[2]. According to the Iditarod Trail Committee, near Shaktoolik he saw a team tangled up with a reindeer and did not stop to help, because time was so important ^[2]. Its driver, Henry Ivanoff, recognized the passing team, ran after it and yelled, "The Serum! I have it here!" ^[2]. Seppala took the handoff and turned back. The gale was in his face, the temperature thirty below, and the 43 miles he had just covered were still to do again ^[1]. Charlie Olson and then Gunnar Kaasen carried the package on, and Kaasen reached Nome early on 2 February ^[2]. The huskies in harness on the front of the Alaska mug (5) are the kind of team he drove.

The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.

What's on the mug

1
ALASKA lettering
ALASKA in yellow-orange capitals over a dark green circle.
2
Floatplane
A pale blue and green high-wing plane on two floats, with a yellow propeller and a row of square cabin windows, flies at the upper left of the circle. Its nose and floats show again at the right edge of the side photo. The drawing is too simple to name the aircraft type, and the mug doesn't name it.
3
Bald eagle
A bird with dark blue wings, a white head and a yellow hooked beak glides across the top right of the circle. The white head marks it as an adult bald eagle, the bird named for that feature; the blue wings are the artist's colour, not the bird's.^[4]
4
Forget-me-nots (state flower)
Blue five-petalled flowers with yellow centres and white streaks grow on a green stem with one broad leaf at the right of the lettering. They match the forget-me-not, Alaska's state flower. The mug doesn't name it.^[3]
5
Sled dogs
A team of blue-, grey- and green-shaded huskies in yellow harness runs across the lower left, pulling toward the lettering. The same team continues onto the side photo, where the musher (11) rides behind it. Dog mushing is Alaska's official state sport.^[3]
6
Kayaker
A paddler in a yellow life vest sits in a long yellow-and-blue kayak at the base of the drawing, double-bladed paddle raised. The mug doesn't say where.
7
Bear
A bear with a green head, an orange muzzle and a grey-blue body stands upright beside the handle, partly turned away. The colours are stylised, so the drawing does not show which kind of bear it is, and the mug doesn't name it.
8
Snow-capped mountains Side view
Jagged blue and white peaks rise above a pale lake and a strip of green and gold conifers at the upper left of the side photo; the same range shows at the right of the back photo. The peaks are too stylised to match to one named mountain, and the mug doesn't name them.
9
Igloo Side view
A dome of white snow blocks outlined in blue, with an arched entrance, sits below the mountains on the side photo. Its edge also shows at the right of the back photo.
10
Spruce-like tree Side view
A tall, narrow conifer with a dark blue trunk and layered branches in blue, green, white and gold stands in the middle of the side photo. It may stand for the Sitka spruce, Alaska's state tree, but the drawing does not show enough to tell the species, and the mug doesn't name it.^[3]
11
Musher Side view
A driver in a blue parka with a yellow-trimmed hood and goggles stands on the runners of a yellow sled behind the husky team (5). The figure is cut off at the left edge of the front photo too. Dog mushing is Alaska's official state sport.^[3]
12
STARBUCKS wordmark Back view
The vertical STARBUCKS wordmark runs beside the handle on this side.
13
Moose (state land mammal) Back view
A moose with a navy body, a lighter blue head and legs, green hooves and broad gold palmate antlers, a hanging dewlap and gold and white markings strides across the back under a scatter of small blue snow dots. The moose is Alaska's official land mammal.^[3]
14
Dome train Back view
A blue-and-yellow passenger train runs on green track along the base: a locomotive at the lower left of the side photo, and on the back a long car with a raised, windowed upper deck. The colours and the dome car look like the Alaska Railroad's trains, whose GoldStar cars have glass-dome ceilings, but the lettering on the cars is too small to read, so this is not confirmed.^[5]
15
Yellow vessel
A long yellow hull with a dark blue top edge and a grid of tiny window dots lies on a green wave line at the lower left of the front photo; it shows again at the lower right of the side photo. It looks like a cruise ship, but the drawing is small and the mug doesn't name it.
16
Ice below the bear
Pale blue and white angular blocks, like ice or snow, lie under the bear (7) beside the handle.
17
Crab pot Back view
A round, drum-shaped frame of dark blue bars with vertical sides and see-through panels sits below the moose on the back, with an orange-yellow crab-like shape and green strands inside; a blue long-legged creature clings to its left side and a small paper cup with a green Starbucks dot stands in front. It looks like a round crab pot, the circular, straight-sided design Alaska uses for Dungeness crab, but the mug doesn't name the pot or the crab.^[6]

The three photos together cover most of the outside of the mug. The area behind the handle is out of view.

Collector notes

The inside of this mug is bright blue, which shows in the front and side photos.
The huskies and the floatplane are on the front, the igloo, the spruce tree and the musher on the side, and the moose and the train on the back.

Before you buy

The three photos show the front, one side and the back; the area behind the handle is out of view. The inside of this mug is bright blue. Alaska also appears in the Been There, Icon and You Are Here series, so check the series name before you order.