Starbucks Niagara Falls mug: Discovery Series

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

Starbucks Discovery Series Niagara Falls mug with a monarch butterfly, a waterfall and visitors in ponchos around the words NIAGARA FALLS — Front view · numbered markers match the list below Show markers

A Niagara Falls mug: a large monarch butterfly, a white waterfall, a red-railed walkway at its foot that may echo the Cave of the Winds deck, and three visitors in yellow, red and blue ponchos.

Series: Discovery Series
Place: Niagara Falls, Canada and USA
Type: Mug
Released: Not confirmed
Capacity: 14 fl ozstandard mug size
SKU: Not confirmed

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The view that had to be won back from the fences

By the 1870s, high fences stood around nearly every open viewpoint on the American side of Niagara Falls, and you paid for a look ^[1]. In August 1869 the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted had walked Goat Island and found a clutter of industry and signs ^[2]^[3]. In 1873 even the old Terrapin Tower at the brink was torn down, because a buyer was about to fence in the last open spot on the American shore ^[4]. A petition from Olmsted and Norton, signed by leading figures in the United States, Canada and Britain, urged the state to buy the private land ^[5]. New York took it by eminent domain and planned to demolish all 150 structures on it ^[6]. The reservation opened on 15 July 1885, and Niagara Falls State Park is described as the oldest state park in the United States ^[7]. The white waterfall on the mug (3) is what the fences were hiding.

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

What's on the mug

1
Lettering
NIAGARA FALLS in red-orange capitals over a dark green circle. The circle is plain green with no detail, so the mug doesn't say what it stands for.
2
Monarch butterfly
A large butterfly with orange, yellow and red wings, black veins and edges, and rows of white and coloured dots along the wing margins sits at the upper left. It looks like a monarch, and Niagara Parks runs a monarch tagging and release program, which may be why it is here. The mug doesn't say.^[10]
3
Waterfall
A white waterfall with blue, yellow and grey-green streaks drops from the top edge to a cloud of mist, with the lettering printed across it. The mug is titled Niagara Falls, but nothing in the drawing shows which of the falls it is.
4
Three visitors in ponchos
Three figures in yellow, red and blue ponchos, each marked with short coloured dashes; only the red and blue ones are hooded, and the yellow one has bare green spiky hair and dark glasses, stand at the lower left. The red one holds both arms up and the blue one holds one arm up. Blue and red are the poncho colours one travel article gives for the Maid of the Mist and Niagara City Cruises boat tours, so these may be tour visitors, but the mug doesn't name a tour.^[9]
5
Red-railed walkway
A walkway with red railings and small figures along it runs along the foot of the falls on teal supports, with a diagonal stair and a smaller red-railed platform at its left end. It may be modelled on the Hurricane Deck at Cave of the Winds, whose decks reach the base of Bridal Veil Falls. The mug doesn't name it.^[8]
6
Deck of red-clad figures at the top
A long yellow deck with a green underside, edged with black posts, carries about fifteen red figures, a few with arms raised, at the top left of the falls. It might be a boat deck of passengers in red ponchos or a lookout, and the drawing doesn't settle which. The mug doesn't name it.^[9]
7
Small teal butterfly
A small butterfly in grey-teal with dark edges sits to the left of the large one. It is too stylised to name as a species.
8
Dark teal wall behind the falls
A tall block in dark teal-green, dashed with short blue and green strokes, sits under the deck and to the left of the waterfall. It reads as a cliff or a wall of water, and the drawing doesn't say which.
9
Leafy shape at the right edge
A narrow green and yellow leafy shape runs down beside the waterfall at the right, next to the handle. It could be foliage, but it is too stylised to say what plant, and the mug doesn't name it.
10
Thin dark line
A single thin black line slopes down from the far left edge toward the green circle, passing under the small butterfly. The drawing gives no clue to what it is.
11
Partial shapes at the left edge
At the left edge, cut off by the curve of the mug, a thin dark red-brown arch sits above grey-blue and white shapes with a few green blades. The rest of this part of the wrap is not visible in the photo, and the side opposite the handle is in no photo.
12
Mist at the foot of the falls
White cloud shapes outlined with yellow, blue and teal curls bank up at the base of the waterfall, around the walkway. They look like spray, and the mug doesn't label them.

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

Collector notes

Niagara-on-the-Lake also has a Discovery Series mug on our checklists; this one is lettered NIAGARA FALLS.
The three visitors in ponchos sit at the lower left and the red walkway at the lower right, with the waterfall between them.

Before you buy

Niagara-on-the-Lake has a separate Discovery mug, so check that the lettering reads NIAGARA FALLS. Been There, Icon and You Are Here Niagara Falls mugs exist as well and look different.