Starbucks Chicago mug: Discovery Series

By The Starbucks Cups team · Last checked 2026-11-15 · How we make these pages

Starbucks Discovery Series Chicago mug with an elevated train, a baseball bat, a Ferris wheel and purple flowers around the word CHICAGO — Front view · numbered markers match the list below Show markers

Chicago mug: an elevated "L" train, a Ferris wheel on a pier that may be Navy Pier's, a dotted bun that looks like a Chicago-style hot dog, and purple flowers that may be chrysanthemums.

Series: Discovery Series
Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Type: Mug
Released: Not confirmed
Capacity: 14 fl ozstandard mug size
SKU: Not confirmed

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The night an engineer sketched a wheel to beat the Eiffel Tower

In 1892 Daniel Burnham, the Chicago fair's chief of construction, challenged America's engineers to build something to rival the Eiffel Tower ^[1]. That very evening a Pittsburgh engineer named George Ferris sketched a revolving wheel on a piece of paper ^[1]. The fair's committee found the idea unrealistic, yet Ferris found investors for $400,000 and won approval on 29 November 1892 ^[1]. The footings went in during January, in freezing weather, with steam used to keep the concrete from freezing ^[1]. For 19 weeks the wheel turned more than 10,000 times without incident, and about 1.5 million people rode it ^[1]^[2]. Ferris did not see its end. According to the Hyde Park Historical Society, he died of typhoid in 1896 after going bankrupt ^[2], and the wheel was dynamited in 1906 ^[1]. The Ferris wheel at the left edge of the Chicago mug (6) may recall that evening's sketch.

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

What's on the mug

1
CHICAGO lettering
CHICAGO is printed in orange capitals across a dark green circle. It is the only text on this side of the mug.
2
Chicago "L" elevated train
A dark blue-violet train with light windows, with a second train on its own track behind it, runs on a raised track with an orange steel truss and green supports above the circle. Chicago is the only U.S. city that still has elevated trains in its downtown, and its system is called the "L", short for elevated railroad. The mug shows no line name or colour code, and doesn't name the train.^[3]^[4]
3
Baseball and bat
A pale blue-grey baseball with orange-red stitching sits above an orange bat with a navy-striped handle that slants down to the right, left of the lettering. Small motion lines are drawn beside both. The mug doesn't name a team or a ballpark.
4
Purple flowers, possibly chrysanthemums
Two dark purple flowers with many thin, layered petals grow on green stems below the lettering. They look like chrysanthemums, and the chrysanthemum is Chicago's official city flower, so that may be what is meant. The mug doesn't name them.^[7]
5
Sailboat
A sailboat with one pale sail and one darker sail on a green hull sits on light blue water at the lower left. The mug doesn't say where it is sailing.
6
Ferris wheel, possibly at Navy Pier
A Ferris wheel with small cabins on its rim and spokes in green, grey and orange stands at the left edge on a pier, with café tables and blue-and-white umbrellas below. A Ferris wheel on a pier may be the Centennial Wheel at Navy Pier, which opened in 2016 and has 42 gondolas, but the drawing is too small to count cabins or compare them. The mug doesn't name it.^[6]
7
Dotted bun that looks like a Chicago-style hot dog
A lavender bun covered in dark navy dots tips over to the right of the lettering, packed with green and orange pieces. It looks like a Chicago-style hot dog, which is typically served on a poppy seed bun with colourful toppings, and the filling shows orange tomato-like slices and a green pickle-spear-like piece, though no sausage is visible. The mug doesn't name it.^[5]
8
Skyscrapers
Several simplified towers stand at the right, beside the handle: one orange with a small stepped top, one black with thin white vertical stripes, one topped in orange with white horizontal bands, one lavender with white windows and one dark navy. None has a feature distinctive enough to match a single named building, and the mug doesn't name any.
9
Striped tub tipping over, possibly a popcorn mix
A navy-and-lavender striped box or tub tips over at the upper right, with orange and white pieces falling from its open end. The pieces look like popcorn, which may nod to Chicago's cheese-and-caramel popcorn mix, but the drawing is too plain to be sure, and the mug doesn't say what it holds.
10
Green shoreline and waves
A strip of green ground with white posts and a rope fence runs along the foot of the circle, next to light blue water with navy wave marks. It joins the drawings from the sailboat to the skyscrapers. The mug doesn't name the place.
11
Lavender and pale-blue swirls, possibly wind
Curling lavender and pale-blue strokes float near the circle and the tipping items at the right. They are drawn like gusts of wind, which may nod to Chicago's nickname the Windy City, but the mug doesn't say so.

The photo shows one side of the mug. The area behind the handle, the opposite side and the inside are out of view.

Collector notes

The train, the bat and the CHICAGO lettering are all on the front, so a front-on seller photo shows the main drawings.
Our checklist lists Chicago in the Been There, Icon and You Are Here series too; check the lettering and the art style before you buy.

Before you buy

Chicago also appears in the Been There, Icon and You Are Here series, so check the lettering and the art style before you buy. The photo shows one side of the mug, so the area behind the handle, the opposite side and the inside are not described.