Starbucks North Carolina mug: Discovery Series
The North Carolina mug from Starbucks' Discovery Series sets NORTH CAROLINA in lavender capitals over a dark green circle, with strawberries (the state red berry), four rafters, a golfer, a red soda bottle, stilt beach houses and a deer.
- Series
- Discovery Series
- Place
- North Carolina, USA
- Type
- Mug
- Released
- Not confirmed
- Capacity
- 14 fl ozstandard mug size
- SKU
- Not confirmed
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The sugar shortage that gave North Carolina Cheerwine
According to the company's own history, L.D. Peeler created Cheerwine in Salisbury, North Carolina, in 1917, in the middle of a sugar shortage [1]. Wanting a soft drink of his own, he bought a wild cherry flavoring from a salesman out of St. Louis [1]. The drink's deep red color and cheerful character gave it its name [1]. Demand grew until the company had no choice but to buy its first delivery truck. Before that, Cheerwine had traveled by train, horse and wagon [1]. Peeler died in 1931, and his son Clifford took over [1]. In April 2011, the Salisbury Post reported that company officials hoped to have Cheerwine in all 50 states by its hundredth anniversary [2]. It was then sold in 12 states [2]. The tall red bottle at the lower left of the North Carolina mug (6) may be one of theirs.
The mug does not label its drawings, so connecting this one to the story is our reading.
What's on the mug
- 1NORTH CAROLINA lettering
NORTH CAROLINA in lavender capitals on two lines, set over a large dark green circle in the middle of the front.
- 2Golfer (may be a nod to Pinehurst)
A golfer in a red cap, a red shirt with lavender stripes, blue trousers and red shoes holds the club over his shoulder at the end of a swing, at the right of the circle. He may be a nod to Pinehurst, the golf resort in the Sandhills, but a golfer could stand for any North Carolina course. The mug doesn't name it.[5]
- 3White-water rafters (possibly the Nantahala River)
Four people in red life jackets and helmets paddle a dark blue raft through a pale blue rapid at the upper left; the one at the back lifts a red-tipped paddle. The scene may refer to the Nantahala River in the western mountains, one of the state's best-known rafting rivers, but the drawing shows no feature that pins down a river. The mug doesn't name it.[4]
- 4Strawberries (North Carolina's state red berry)
Three red strawberries float above the circle: one sits on its top edge beside pale blue leaves, one has a pale blue cap and one is darker red with a lavender cap. A red oval with seed dots further right, beside the tree, looks like a fourth berry without its cap. The strawberry is North Carolina's official red berry under state law.[3]
- 5Beach houses on stilts (possibly the Outer Banks)
A row of four houses, two red and two pale blue, stands on stilts along a shoreline at the bottom of the circle, with a white walkway leading down to blue waves. Raised beach houses like these may stand for the Outer Banks or another stretch of the North Carolina coast; no single building is identifiable. The mug doesn't name it.
- 6Red soda bottle (possibly Cheerwine)
A tall red bottle with a blue label stands at the lower left, red liquid and bubbles spraying from its open neck up toward the rafters. It may be Cheerwine, the cherry soft drink made in Salisbury since 1917, but the bottle carries no readable name. The mug doesn't name it.[1]
- 7Tree with red and pale blue leaves
A tall, thin tree at the right edge beside the handle, its upper leaves red and pink and its lower leaves pale blue. The species is not identifiable from the drawing.
- 8Deer
A pale blue deer with antlers stands at the far left edge, partly behind the red bottle and cut off by the curve of the mug in this photo.
- 9Red pole with flag and ribbed shape
Below the golfer's back hand, a thin red pole with a small grey flag stands in front of a lavender dome with white ribs and a dark blue base, near the handle. The photo is too blurred here to say what the dome is.
The photo is low resolution and shows the front of the mug only. The side opposite the handle and the area behind the handle are in no photo.
Collector notes
- The inside of the mug cannot be seen in this photo, so its colour is not confirmed here.
- The photo shows the golfer at the right and the rafters at the upper left; the side of the mug opposite the handle is in no photo.
Before you buy
The photo shows one side of the mug, and the inside color is not confirmed. North Carolina also appears in the Been There, Icon and You Are Here series, so check the series name before you order.
