Been There – Brasil
There are three Brazilian mugs from BT series so far. Starbucks Been There – Brasil is the first one. As you can see, the Portuguese spelling was used. Using local spelling for mugs has been a common practice for Starbucks.
Here are some points of interest and symbols from the mug:
– The Amazon River is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world. Did you know that the river starts in Peru? Peruvian part is also known as Marañón. The origin of the name “Amazonas” has also an interesting story: one of the expeditions led by Francisco de Orellana was attacked by native warriors led by women. They reminded de Orellana of the Amazon warriors, a tribe of women warriors mentioned in Greek mythology.
– The toco toucan a.k.a. the common toucan, giant toucan or simply toucan, is the largest and probably the best-known species in the toucan family. It is widely spread in Brazil and his most noticeable feature is obviously his big yellow-orange bill, which measures from 6 to 9 inches in length. Interesting enough, it is not the national symbol of the country, like you may think. There are a total of 1806 confirmed species of birds in Brazil, of which 235 are endemic. From this vast variety, a small and cute Rufous-bellied thrush was chosen as a national symbol. There are a couple of reasons for that, which I will mention later, when I get the pictures of all of the sides of the mug.
– Soccer (association football) is the most popular sport in Brazil and an important part of national identity. The Brazil National Football team won the FIFA World Cup tournament five times, which is more than any other team in the world. Brazil gave the world many soccer superstars such as Garrincha, Kaká, Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Neymar and others.
– Meat on the stick represents great love Brazilians share to meat cooked in churrasco style (roughly “barbecue”). What is now largely associated with this style of cooking is picanha – the top part of sirloin steak. This has a thick layer of fat to ensure it melts in your mouth after being cooked over hot coals.
