Holiday drinks and cup designs in Davis
PHOTO: Starbucks’s cup design for 2019’s holiday season features scrambled lettering that spells out “Merry Coffee.”
Holiday drinks
Holiday food and beverages around Davis
By Angela Voss,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff--
The scent of peppermint hot chocolate fills David Butterworth's fourth period classroom. Two sophomores are sipping this fan-favorite seasonal Starbucks drink, red cups in hand and glowing with holiday spirit.
As the holidays are approaching, students are swapping out their iced beverages for seasonal warm drinks. You may have seen Davis High students parading around school with the iconic red Christmas cups in hand, while scurrying on their way to first period in the morning.
Every year, people go wild over Starbucks’s winter holiday themed drinks. Starbucks comes out with a variety of holiday drinks and food assortments for people who want to bring a little festivity into their lives.
“There are so many different holiday drinks, but my favorites are probably the Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino,” sophomore Shea Kordana said.
In 1986, Starbucks released the world famous eggnog latte that sent coffee lovers wild. As the years went on, Starbucks introduced the world to the Pumpkin Spice Latte, Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulee Latte, Chestnut Praline Latte and, in 2017, the Toasted White Chocolate Mocha.
This year's newest Starbucks holiday addition is the Irish Cream Cold Brew.
“People who really like cold brew love this drink,” Starbucks employee Christan Duran said. “I would definitely recommend trying it, it's a hit.”
You can find festivity in other places around Davis as well. The very popular coffee stand, Dutch Bros, isn’t messing around when it comes to the holidays.
This holiday season, Dutch Bros has introduced the Caramel Eggnog Latte and the Candy Cane Mocha.
“People totally love the Caramel Eggnog Latte. It's insane how many people order it everyday,” Dutch Bros employee Allison Metler said.
If you’re not in the mood for coffee, Dutch Bros has you covered. The company recently introduced the Christmas Morning chai drink and the Peppermint Bark Freeze, which Metler described as "a thick chocolatey drink with just the right amount of peppermint topped with whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkles."
Specialized holiday-themed cups isn’t just a Starbucks tradition. Dutch Bros also has fun holiday cups, along with its own Dutch Bros Christmas tree ornaments that employees hand out to customers as a fun holiday gift.
Around the corner on 5th street, lies a small family-owned bakery called Konditorei. This Austrain bakery is bringing holiday joy to Davis with its variety of sweet, warm, and delicious treats that are baked fresh every day.
Walking into this bakery, you can definitely feel the holiday spirit wrapping around you like a big warm hug.
Poinsettia flowers and golden flickering lights decorate the room as a vast majority of holiday treats are displayed right before your eyes.
Gingerbread cookies, a traditional Austrian Christmas bread called Christollen, holiday croissants and peppermint chocolates are some of the most popular holiday treats Konditorei has to offer.
As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, a warm soothing drink and sweet soft baked goods is just the thing to get students into the holiday spirit.
Starbucks's seasonal sketches
By Devon Morris,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff--
In every Starbucks coffee shop throughout winter, the whole store is filled with holiday joy. On top of the several Eggnog Lattes being ordered and the tinsel lining the counters, the seasonally decorated cups for every beverage stand out.
Starbucks’s holiday cups are something all regular drinkers look forward to every year. “I like [the holiday cups], [they] have a festive design which puts me in the holiday spirit,” junior Frankie Saraniti said.
The cups are often packed with winter themed designs, such as mistletoe lining the rim of the cups or presents all over them. In 2015, however, Starbucks released a plain two-toned red cup to promote inclusivity among all people throughout the holiday season.
This red cup sparked a huge controversy amongst many Starbucks drinkers. “People were maybe like, expecting a cool design and were disappointed when it was just a red [cup],” sophomore Stephanie Cole said.
This year’s holiday cup followed in the footsteps of the 2015 cup when it first came out, with many avid drinkers disappointed with the design. “Personally, I don’t like their holiday cups this year. The 'Merry Coffee' cluster of words doesn’t really make sense to me,” junior Georgia Sachs said.
The feeling seems to be mutual among the majority of Starbucks’s customers as well. “It’s a lot going on sometimes, it gives me a headache,” Saraniti said.
“This year’s holiday cup is very confusing… I think Starbucks could’ve done a better job making the cup and [design] it more Christmas themed instead of just white bold letters,” senior Rolando Medina said.
A Davis graphic designer agrees.
“I don’t particularly like this [cup]. The off-register 'Merry Coffee' type is confusing to look at and hard to read,” said Mike Wyman, founder of Wyman Design.
The consumers of Starbucks’s products generally feel like many improvements could have been made to this year’s design to avoid all the hate towards the new cups. “I feel like they could’ve make them cuter, maybe put some reindeer or cute animals on them or something,” Cole said.
“I would make the type smaller so you can read what it says without spinning the cup. I might try a solid background to see what that looks like,” Wyman said.
Cup designers haven't spoken up about the backlash they’re receiving for the cups yet. Wyman sympathizes with them.
“I think the designers are in a tough position here. They may not be able to use certain words or imagery in order to not offend [anyone], but they still need to make it festive.” Wyman said.
Medina feels that the designers should meet with their customers before the next holiday cup is introduced.
“If I were to design a [cup], I would listen to [frequent customers’] ideas and try my best to put all ideas in one cup,” Medina said.
Despite all this, the coffee sales are still impressive throughout the holiday season. More people prefer to just have their drinks instead of obsessing over the designs on the cups. “I just enjoy the coffee,” Sachs said.
