Starbucks Kansas mug: Discovery Series

What's on the mug

1. 1
   Sunflower

   A large yellow sunflower with a checked, patterned centre fills the top of the front, with two striped leaves below it. The wild native sunflower is Kansas's state flower, adopted in 1903, and gives the state its nickname, the Sunflower State.^[1]

2. 2
   Fireworks

   Thin bursts of orange, yellow, blue and red fireworks rise at the far left of the front and carry on around to the side, between the farmer and the farmhouse. The mug doesn't say what they mark.

3. 3
   Farmhouse on a hill

   A yellow two-storey farmhouse sits on a rolling gold-and-orange hillside with a wooden fence to its left, under small blue clouds. The mug doesn't name it.

4. 4
   Riders on horseback

   A line of riders in dark blue silhouette crosses the lower left, one waving a hat overhead and one swinging a rope. Below them a blue strip of water runs past orange plants. The mug doesn't say who they are.

5. 5
   Bison with wheat

   A blue bison stands in front of the green circle with a sprig of wheat in its mouth. The American bison, or buffalo, became Kansas's state animal in 1955.^[1]

6. 6
   Windmill

   A blue lattice tower windmill with a green-and-yellow wheel and a yellow tail vane stands at the right of the front, next to the handle. The mug doesn't name a place for it.

7. 7
   Iced roll on a plate (looks like a cinnamon roll)

   A square golden pastry with a spiral on top and white icing running down its sides sits on an orange plate at the lower right. It looks like an iced cinnamon roll. The mug doesn't name it.

8. 8
   KANSAS lettering

   KANSAS in orange capitals over a dark green circle.

9. 9
   Tractor Back view

   A red-orange tractor with a blue cab and blue-and-yellow wheels drives left, toward the handle, with a blue trail of earth behind it. The mug doesn't show a make.

10. 10
    Wheat stalks Back view

    Golden wheat heads on long yellow and green stalks fan out diagonally between the tractor and the dome. Kansas is nicknamed the Wheat State, and wheat has long been central to its farming.^[1]

11. 11
    Kansas State Capitol, Topeka Back view

    A large building in orange, red and yellow has a tall central drum with rows of arched windows, a ribbed blue dome and a pointed lantern, and long wings that end in columned porticos with triangular pediments; the right-hand portico and its steps also show at the left of the side photo. This matches the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka, whose copper dome carries the Ad Astra statue. The drawing does not show the statue clearly, and the mug doesn't name the building.^[8]

12. 12
    Filled pastry on a platter (may be a bierock) Back view

    A blue platter floats above the dome holding a golden oval pastry and a cut piece that shows a dark filling flecked with yellow. It may be a bierock, the meat-filled pastry of the Volga German settlers in Kansas, but other filled breads would look the same. The mug doesn't say what it is.^[13]

13. 14
    Prairie chicken Side view

    A plump orange bird with barred markings, blue wings and a short dark rounded tail perches on a dark blue rock; the back photo shows its head, with a spike of feathers raised above it and an orange patch on the throat. Those are the raised pinnae and orange air sac of a displaying male prairie chicken, a grassland grouse of the Kansas Flint Hills. The drawing does not show whether it is the greater or the lesser species. The same bird shows at the right edge of the back photo.^[9][10]

14. 15
    Farmer Side view

    A farmer with a red beard and a straw hat, in a yellow shirt, blue overalls and orange boots, leans on an orange pole; a small white cup with a lid and a green circle on it sits in the bib of his overalls. The mug doesn't say who he is.

15. 16
    Rock with an arch (may be Monument Rocks) Side view

    A long, flat-topped dark blue rock with pale horizontal bands has a tall, narrow opening through it; the prairie chicken stands on it. It resembles the layered chalk formations of Monument Rocks in Gove County, where one of the most photographed formations is the Keyhole Arch, but the drawing is too stylised to be sure. The mug doesn't name it.^[11][12]

16. 17
    Striped fan below the rock Side view

    Below the rock, green, yellow and blue stripes speckled with dark dots fan downward toward the farmer's feet, like rows of a crop or a spill of water. The mug doesn't say what it is.

17. 18
    STARBUCKS wordmark Back view

    STARBUCKS printed vertically in dark grey capitals beside the handle on the back.

18. 19
    Figure by the handle

    Right beside the handle, past the windmill, a small figure with a brown head is cut off by the curve of the mug. A thin pink line trails from it, with a lavender shape and a golden oval below and short blue wavy lines under those. The photos don't show it whole, and the mug doesn't say what it is.

The three photos show the front, the side opposite the handle and the back. The strip just beside the handle shows only at the edge of the front photo, so the drawing there is cut off.

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.

Other Kansas mugs

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

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

About the Discovery Series

• Discovery Series vs Been There Series: the differences
• How to display and store a Starbucks mug collection
• Where the hidden cup is on each Discovery Series mug
• Starbucks Discovery Series mugs list