Starbucks Cape Cod mug: Discovery Series

By The Starbucks Cups team · Last checked 2026-09-30 · How we make these pages

Starbucks Discovery Series Cape Cod mug with a green shingled house, hydrangeas, oysters and a gull around the words CAPE COD — Front view · numbered markers match the list below Show markers

The Cape Cod mug from Starbucks' Discovery Series sets the name in lime green over a dark green circle, with a shingled house, hydrangeas, oysters and a gull. A kayaker, a lobster, a whale and a cyclist fill the other sides.

Series: Discovery Series
Place: Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
Type: Mug
Released: Not confirmed
Capacity: 14 fl ozstandard mug size
SKU: Not confirmed

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The captain's wife who opened a school at sea

In October 1864 Augusta Penniman sailed from New Bedford on the whaler Minerva with her son Eugene ^[2]^[3]. Her husband, Captain Edward Penniman of Eastham, was in command, and the voyage would last more than three years ^[4]. Seven weeks out she opened a school with one pupil, her four-year-old son, for a salary of $100 a year, to be paid at the end of the voyage ^[5]. On 25 February 1865 she wrote that at about five in the afternoon they saw whales and lowered the boats ^[6]. It was not her only voyage. According to the National Park Service, she spent more than nine years at sea over a twenty-year period ^[7]. The captain retired at 53, in 1884, hoping for ten years as a gentleman farmer ^[8]. He died at home in 1913 ^[9]. The grey whale breaching on the Cape Cod mug (12) is only being watched.

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

What's on the mug

1
Lettering
CAPE COD in lime-green capitals over a dark green circle.
2
Shingled house
A green-shingled house with white-trimmed windows, a porch and a red-and-white railing stands at the lower left.
3
Hydrangea
A large hydrangea bloom of small white-and-teal flowers, with big leaves, fills the left edge.
4
Oysters and lemon
Three oysters on the half shell sit at the top right of the circle, with a lemon slice beside them.
5
Gull
A grey-green gull perches on top of the pink-and-red bands.
6
Pink and red bands
Wavy bands in pink and red with tufts of grass cross the top, like dunes at sunset.
7
Kayaker Side view
A paddler in a red-striped top and green hat paddles a red kayak at the lower left.
8
Lobster Side view
A red lobster with raised claws stands upright at the left.
9
Arched bridge Side view
A long arched bridge crosses the water at the upper left. Most of Cape Cod is separated from the mainland by the Cape Cod Canal, which the Sagamore and Bourne bridges cross; the mug doesn't say which bridge this is.^[1]
10
Slender tower Side view
A tall, slender tower with a red base stands in front of the hydrangea.
11
Cyclist Back view
A cyclist in a red top rides a bike with red wheels past a round tower.
12
Whales Back view
A grey whale breaches in a spray at the centre and a red-and-pink whale swims at the left. Provincetown, at the tip of the Cape, runs whale watching trips to Stellwagen Bank; the mug doesn't name a place.^[1]
13
Small boat Back view
A small boat with a red hull sails to the left of the breaching whale.
14
Kite Back view
A green diamond kite with a red tail flies at the top.
15
Round tower Back view
A round tower covered in pale green dots, with a window and a pink door, rises at the right.

The three photos together cover the whole outside of the mug except the area right behind the handle.

Collector notes

The seller photos use a bright teal backdrop, which is not part of the mug.
The design wraps in three big scenes: oysters and hydrangeas at the front, a kayaker and a lobster at the side, a whale and a cyclist on the back.

Before you buy

The three photos show the whole outside of the mug except the area right behind the handle. The bright teal backdrop in the seller photos is not part of the mug. We list no other series with a Cape Cod mug, so this Discovery Series mug is the only one on the site.