From playfully cute to quietly elegant, these beautiful bovines are here to keep you company on your coffee break.
With Japan changing over to the new Chinese zodiac animal on January 1, we checked out Japanese Starbucks branches’ festive Year of the Ox drinkware before 2020 ended. But with the Lunar New Year coming up in early February, let’s take a look at some of the cool stuff the coffeehouse’s branches elsewhere in Asia have on offer to mark the occasion.
As we start off in China, we should note that the linguistic distinction between “ox” and “cow” isn’t quite as stark in many Asian languages as it is in English. Because of that, Starbucks’ Lunar New Year collections freely jump back and forth between orthodox oxen and cutesy cows, depending on the designers’ sensibilities. Some of the pieces for China also feature a fish, a traditional sign of prosperity, or the Starbucks mascot bear dressed up for a lion dance.
▼ There’s even a gold-colored ox coin bank.
Hong Kong has a separate lineup, with a focus on stylish understatement, but still with a very playful touch with a cow glass with extended ears.
Starbucks Taiwan, meanwhile, is all about the mugs.
And last, a lot of Thailand’s collection overlaps with pieces available elsewhere, but it’s the only area out of the four to be offering the charcoal-color Year of the Ox tumblers and bottles.
▼ Thailand, Taiwan, and China are also all offering this adorable ox mug, which is available in Japan too.
While Starbucks China’s collection doesn’t appear to be available for online purchases, you can find the items from Starbucks Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand on their online stores here, here, and here.
Sources: Starbucks China, Starbucks Hong Kong, Starbucks Taiwan, Starbucks Thailand
Top image: Starbucks Taiwan
Insert images: Starbucks China, Starbucks Hong Kong, Starbucks Taiwan, Starbucks Thailand
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