Starbucks Minnesota mug: Discovery Series

What's on the mug

1. 1
   MINNESOTA lettering

   MINNESOTA is printed in light blue capitals across a dark green circle, the centre of the front face.

2. 2
   Aerial Lift Bridge, Duluth

   An orange steel bridge runs along the top of the green circle: two lattice towers joined by a truss across the top, with a second, lower span between them. That combination of towers, a fixed top span and a roadway that rises between the towers is the Aerial Lift Bridge over the Duluth Ship Canal. The drawing is in orange; the colour is the artist's. The mug doesn't name it.^[5][6]

3. 3
   Ice hockey player

   A hockey player in a red helmet and a dark jersey with orange and white panels skates at the upper left, stick down. The same player shows at the right edge of the Side photo, beside the start of the lettering. Ice hockey is Minnesota's official state sport; the mug doesn't say so.^[4]

4. 4
   Person in a motorboat

   A person in a red cap and red trousers sits in a long pale boat with a dark blue hull and an orange outboard motor at the stern, at the upper right of the circle. The mug doesn't say where or what for.

5. 5
   Red apples (possibly Honeycrisp)

   Red apples with blue leaves sit under the lettering; one is cut in half to show pale flesh and dark seeds, and more hang beside the animal to the right. They may be Honeycrisp, the University of Minnesota apple that is the state fruit, but the drawing shows plain red apples that could be any variety. The mug doesn't name them.^[2][4]

6. 6
   Animal that looks like a thirteen-lined ground squirrel

   An orange animal stands on its hind legs and holds an apple, with rows of small pale marks down its body. It looks like a thirteen-lined ground squirrel, the 'striped gopher' behind Minnesota's nickname, the Gopher State. The drawing shows pale marks rather than the real animal's dark stripes, so this is our reading. The mug doesn't name it.^[9][10]

7. 7
   Cross-country skier Side view

   A cross-country skier in a yellow pom-pom hat, a striped light blue vest and orange-and-red trousers strides along on long skis with poles. One mittened arm reaches into the grain stalks, and a baking dish of tater tots sits to the right.

8. 8
   Tater tot hotdish Side view

   A glass baking dish heaped with golden tater tots, with red, purple and blue pieces showing at one end: a tater tot casserole, the dish Minnesotans call hotdish. The corner of the same dish shows at the far left edge of the Front photo. The mug doesn't name it.^[1]

9. 10
   Tree that may be a red pine Side view

   A tall tree with a red trunk and red branches, its foliage drawn as pale blue clumps, stands among falling snowflakes behind the skier. The red trunk may be meant as a red (Norway) pine, Minnesota's state tree, named for its reddish bark, but the stylised foliage could fit other trees. The mug doesn't name it.^[4][11]

10. 11
    Waterfall below fir trees Side view

    Dark fir trees stand above a waterfall that drops into a blue stream, beside an orange-yellow rock cliff with a round dark opening and clumps of red and dark blue foliage. The same scene sits at the lower left of the Front photo. The mug doesn't name the falls, and no single Minnesota waterfall is clear from the drawing.

11. 12
    Common loons Back view

    Two birds swim beside the Starbucks wordmark: a larger one with a dark head and a navy body covered in small white and gold dots, and a smaller one behind it with a light blue head and an orange bill. The dotted dark back matches the common loon in summer plumage, Minnesota's state bird; the bill colours are the artist's. The mug doesn't name them.^[4][7]

12. 13
    Showy lady's slippers

    Up the stem by the handle grow flowers with pale cream petals on top of round red pouches, on tall blue leaves; another hangs over the apples at the left. Petals over a rounded pouch are the shape of the showy (pink and white) lady's slipper, Minnesota's state flower. The drawing colours the pouches red rather than white streaked with pink. The mug doesn't name them.^[4][8]

13. 14
    Grain stalks that may be wild rice Side view

    Orange, yellow and red grain heads on tall stalks with blue leaves rise behind the baking dish. They may be wild rice, Minnesota's state grain, whose grains are yellow or red at the tip of the stalk, but the heads are drawn much like wheat. The mug doesn't name them.^[4][12]

14. 15
    Pale blue animal over red and orange shapes Back view

    At the right edge of the Back photo a pale blue four-legged animal stands above a pile of red and orange shapes, under a small snowflake; the same red and orange shapes show at the left edge of the Side photo. It falls at the edge of both photos, so we cannot identify it.

Together the three photos show nearly the whole wrap. The one thing no photo shows face-on is the pale blue animal over red and orange shapes between the loons and the skier, which is cut off at the edge of both the Back and Side photos.

Collector notes

• The Minnesota design mixes seasons: the front face has the Aerial Lift Bridge, a hockey player, apples and a ground squirrel around the lettering, while the next face has a cross-country skier beside a dish of tater tot hotdish, so a one-sided listing photo may show only part of it.
• Two loons swim beside the Starbucks wordmark next to the handle, on the side away from the lettering; that is the quickest way to confirm a listing shows this mug's back.
• The tater tot casserole on the skier's dish is a nod to hotdish, a Minnesota staple; tater tots are the classic topping, and from 2011 the state's congressional delegation held an annual Hotdish Off (Wikipedia lists winners through 2019). Wikipedia's hotdish article is the source.

Other Minnesota mugs

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

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