Starbucks Kansas mug: Discovery Series

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

Starbucks Discovery Series Kansas mug with a sunflower, blue bison, riders on horseback, farmhouse and windmill around the word KANSAS — Front view · numbered markers match the list below Show markers

The Kansas mug from Starbucks' Discovery Series sets the state name in orange over a dark green circle, with a sunflower, a bison, riders on horseback, a farmhouse, a windmill and fireworks.

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

See eBay listings Search Amazon

Sponsored links: we earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Browse all Discovery Series mugs on eBay →

The hunter who bragged he'd killed the most buffalo

Charles Jones, according to HistoryNet, liked to boast that he had killed more buffaloes than any other man ever did ^[2]. It was an enormous trade. In the first three months of 1872, more than 43,000 buffalo hides were shipped east ^[3]. By the 1900s an estimated 500 buffalo were left in the United States ^[4]. Jones had set out to prevent that. Once the trade collapsed in the mid-1880s, he gathered what straggling remnants he could find on the Great Plains, calves above all ^[2]. His herd at Garden City grew to close to 150 head, the largest in Kansas, until debts in the 1890s forced him to sell it ^[5]. In 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt made him Yellowstone's first game warden, and one of his first acts was to get three breeding bulls from the Goodnight herd in Texas ^[2]^[6]. The blue bison on the Kansas mug (5) is the state animal, named in 1955 ^[7].

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

What's on the mug

1
Sunflower
A large sunflower with a patterned centre fills the top of the design. The sunflower is Kansas's state flower, adopted in 1903.^[1]
2
Fireworks
Two fireworks burst at the far left.
3
Farmhouse on a hill
A yellow farmhouse sits on a rolling gold-and-orange hillside behind a wooden fence.
4
Riders on horseback
A line of riders in dark blue silhouette crosses the lower left, one swinging a rope overhead.
5
Bison and wheat
A blue bison stands in front of the green circle with a sprig of wheat at its mouth. The American bison is Kansas's state animal, designated in 1955.^[1]
6
Windmill
A blue lattice windmill stands at the right, next to the handle.
7
Round hay bale
A round hay bale with an orange ring sits at the lower right.
8
Lettering
KANSAS in orange capitals over a dark green circle.
9
Tractor Photo 3 view
A red-orange tractor with blue-and-yellow wheels drives left, toward the handle side.
10
Wheat stalks Photo 3 view
Golden wheat stalks fan out diagonally from behind the dome.
11
Domed building Photo 3 view
A large building with a blue-green dome and long wings in orange, red and yellow fills the centre of the back.
12
Platter Photo 3 view
A blue platter floats above the dome, tilted to show a golden, crumbly food. The mug doesn't say what it is.
13
Orange bird Photo 3 view
An orange bird perches on a blue rounded shape at the right edge; the curve of the mug cuts off the rest.
14
Orange hen Back view
An orange bird with blue-patterned wings perches on a dark blue shape at the left, the same bird that shows at the edge of the back photo.
15
Farmer Back view
A farmer in a straw hat, yellow shirt, blue overalls and orange boots leans on an orange pole, with a small green circle on the bib.

Together the two photos show both faces of the mug. The area behind the handle is out of view in both.

Collector notes

Kansas is also a Been There Series mug on our checklists. This page is about the Discovery design with the sunflower and the bison.
The scene is wide: the sunflower sits at the top, the riders far left and the bison right of centre, so a close-up seller photo may crop one of them out.
The inside of this mug is bright yellow-orange, which shows in the side photo.

Before you buy

The two photos show both faces of the mug but not the area behind the handle. The inside is bright yellow-orange. Kansas is also a Been There Series mug; this page covers the Discovery design with the sunflower and the bison.

Other Kansas mugs

Different series, different mugs. Check the series name before you buy.

Been There · Kansas

Hidden Starbucks cup

Starbucks says a to-go cup is hidden in every Discovery Series design. On the side of the mug, a white to-go cup with a green dot sits near the farmer. Where the hidden cup is on other mugs