Starbucks unveils 2024 holiday cup designs and coffee fans have mixed reactions

Starbucks has released the designs for their 2024 holiday cups, prompting mixed reactions from coffee lovers.

The festive selection includes four vibrantly colored hot drinks cups with bold patterns to celebrate the festive season. There is also a cup for cold drinks with white winter details.

The company unveiled the cups that will debut on Thursday, November 7 statement on Saturday.

A racy Instagram video showed ‘behind the scenes’ of making the cups.

“Graphics include charms that resemble old-fashioned Christmas ornaments or mints, appearing on cups and merchandise,” the company wrote.

Starbucks unveiled brand new holiday cup designs to kick off the holiday season

The 'Joyful Connection' cup is made to resemble a cooling container for coffee beans

The 'Siren Chorus' design is inspired by raking coffee beans and the Starbucks Siren logo

The festive cups are available from Thursday, November 7

A holiday mug for iced drinks with ornate details was also announced Saturday

A holiday mug for iced drinks with ornate details was also announced Saturday

Starbucks Creative Director Kristy Cameron said: “We love finding these real moments of joy and coffee to inspire creatives.

“Whether it’s the growing coffee trees, roasting beans, roasting cups or glowing lamps, we wanted to share the warmth of our coffee house and the anticipation of the arrival of the red cups with our customers and partners.”

Some Starbucks fans were excited about the brand new designs and expressed their excitement in the comments section of the Instagram announcement.

One user said: ‘These are so cute and cheerful!’

‘Beautiful and lively this year! I love it,” said another.

The company shared its excitement about the news cups in an Instagram post

The company shared its excitement about the news cups in an Instagram post

Others did not share this enthusiasm.

Starbucks said People magazine: “For many customers, the return of Starbucks holiday cups signals the start of the season.”

But as the comments section showed, these designs didn’t put many people in a party mood.

“I feel like these are becoming less and less holiday themed every year,” one disappointed patron wrote.

Someone wrote outright that these cups are “ugly” and several others asked for more “traditional” Christmas designs for next year.

Coffee lovers had mixed reviews of the cups, with many calling for more 'traditional' designs

Coffee lovers had mixed reviews of the cups, with many calling for more ‘traditional’ designs

‘These cups don’t scream holiday at all! Get back to the ‘holiday feeling’,” one user claimed.

The ‘Warm Wishes’ cup features multi-coloured dots that resemble Christmas lights and the bottom of the coffee cups when people say ‘cheers’ to each other.

Another variation, the ‘Joyful Connection’ cup, features striped circle patterns that are meant to look like the containers of roasted coffee beans are cooling.

The ‘Lyrical Landscape’ cup has spiral lines that intertwine. Starbucks wrote that it depicts ribbons and “the green rolling hills where coffee is grown.”

The ‘Siren Chorus’ option is inspired by patterns created when raking coffee beans and the ‘flowing lines’ of the company’s signature Siren logo.

The 'Lyrical Landscape' cup should look like a ribbon

Featuring colorful dots, the 'Warm Wishes' design is borrowed from Christmas lights and people holding coffee cups

The new cups feature shades of green, pink, red and white around the signature Sirene

These cups for hot drinks have the colors green, red, white and pink.

Before sharing the news about the 2024 holiday cups, Starbucks announced plans to stop charging extra for non-dairy milk in drinks.

This change will reduce the cost of some customers’ drinks by as much as 10 percent and will go into effect the same day as the new holiday cups.

“This is just one of many changes we will make to ensure a visit to Starbucks is worth it every time,” CEO Brian Niccol said of the decision on a dairy alternative.

Niccol, who recently left his position as CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill to run Starbucks, said CNBC about another big change being made: Starbucks will once again write down customers’ names by hand.

Starbucks also announced other changes, including a return to handwritten names

Starbucks also announced other changes, including a return to handwritten names

He told the newspaper: ‘The number I heard was about 200,000 Sharpies that we need to track down.

“Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just going to the Staples and picking up some Sharpies.”

He believes this creates a more personalized experience for customers.