Christmas has come and gone so did the New Year.  That means next major holiday in Beijing is Chinese New Year.  With this holiday comes new merchandise at Starbucks.  Since I’m working for the building’s leasing department, I was able to get the latest news buzz about Starbucks from the newly opened store in our 3rd level.  In my previous post, I’ve talked about the Christmas stuff, well.. if you’re lucky enough the remaining unsold merchandise will go on sale soon. 

What I’m going to post today is what will be happening at Starbucks starting tomorrow till February.  I believe they will update the site soon to correspond to their new offerings.  The theme for January and February is “Celebrating with Coffee”.

Coffee and Food

The delicious Honey Orange Latte is back!  I’ve tried this last year courtesy of my Starbucks cousin addict Gold who graciously treated me to this wonderful concoction.  A tall cup will cost you RMB30, Grande is RMB 33 and Venti is RMB 36.

To go along with your latte, you can either have a Honey Peach Souffle Cheese Cake (RMB 23) or a

Chocolate Royal Raspberry Crunch (RMB 23).  Of course, the usual pastry selection will do as well but why not try something new right?  BTW, the chocolate muffin isn’t that great.  It’s huge but nothing to brag about.  It will also set you back by RMB 12.  The regular muffin sold in packs of four in the supermarket is way better than Starbucks..

Chinese New Year Merchandise

I’ll start first with the Chinese New Year merchandise.  As this coming new year will be the year of the tiger, their merchandise will revolve around this animal.  If you’re a coin bank collector like my aunt, you can purchase the tiger coin bank for RMB 108.  For bear collectors, the CNY Starbucks bear is dressed in an orange tiger costume.  This year, Starbucks launched a candy dish which is shaped like a tiger(?) for RMB 108.  I put a question mark there as even the Starbucks staff thinks that it doesn’t look like a tiger except for the color.  Check out the photo on the right and let me know what animal is it.   

For mug collectors, they have the Chinese new year tiger mug.  It’s medium sized and costs RMB 80.  For tea drinkers, they have this beautiful oriental tea cup with a butterfly holder and costs RMB 75.  This is medium sized like the Tiger mug.  The picture looks small but it’s actually mid-size.  I saw the actual cup and I would suggest seeing the actual before you decide to buy it based on the picture.

Another great gift for your loved ones during Chinese New Year on top of the red envelope will be this set of two tea cups with an odd design to ward off evil spirits.  It’s in both red and white and white and red color.  A set will cost you RMB 150.  I would not actually call it tea cup because the actual size looks like soup bowls to me.  Hehehe!

For the tumbler selection, you will have the his and hers “Tiger” character tumbler in pink and pale bronze color.  The pink is glittery with transparent design at the back.  The pale bronze color is not transparent and doesn’t have the glittery design but a matte look.  This “Tiger” tumbler is simple, elegant and perfect for office settings.  It has the name of Starbucks Coffee, 虎 and Tiger in the middle in white color.  Both tumblers cost RMB 85 each.

After the simple but elegant Tiger tumbler, the next tumbler has a cartoony feel.  The background is in pale orange with a red lantern and a young Chinese boy.  This tumbler costs RMB 85 and is not available in Taiwan.  The more elegant and elaborate tumbler costs RMB 85 and is red in color with gold window design with the tumbler shaped in the middle.

To make your house special during Chinese New Year, you can purchase this Starbucks hanging ornament to put on your wall.  This ornament costs RMB 68.

If you want the tiger doll on the left side of the picture, from January 4 to February 22, 2010, Starbucks will give this RMB 68 tiger doll for free for every RMB 288 purchase in a single receipt.  Use of the VIP card and purchase of the South Cloud coffee beans will deem you ineligible for this promotion.

Valentines Day Merchandise

This year, the western Valentines Day is also Chinese New Year.  My colleague is bemoaning that Valentines won’t be special as it’s also Chinese New Year.  Hehehe.. of course, hearts will be the main theme for this occasion.  So.. Starbucks Bear is wearing a red flower head piece, pink dress with a red heart in the middle and a pair of red shoes.  The tumbler is designed in with red hearts in square pattern.  Some of the hearts are in metallic red color.  The tumbler costs RMB 85. 

The mugs comes in two designs.  The red (inside) and white (outside) color mug has embossed white hearts with red hearts in the middle.  It also has the word love on one of the hearts and Starbucks Coffee on the handle.  This mug costs RMB 75.   The white (inside) and red (outside) color mug has plant like design with heart shapes.  The Starbucks coffee name is inside the mug.  This mug costs RMB 80.

So.. what are you waiting for.  If you like any of those items in the pictures above, better fall in line at your nearest Starbucks coffee shop on January 4 as those merchandise hit the shelves.  If the merchandise are like the Christmas merchandise, I’m pretty sure they’ll be selling like hotcakes.  Happy Starbucks Shopping!