Starbucks is bringing back its viral Bearista glass cold cup for the 2026 holiday season, with new mystery versions arriving Nov. 10 and the original returning Dec. 1, as CEO Brian Niccol looks to repeat last year's sellout success.
Starbucks is banking on a second consecutive viral holiday season, announcing the return of its Bearista glass cold cup collection for 2026 amid a more challenging consumer spending environment than the one that fueled last year's sellout.
The coffee chain said a new set of mystery Bearista glass cold cups will arrive at U.S. locations on Nov. 10, followed by the return of the original bear-shaped cup on Dec. 1. A broader Holiday Bearista collection — featuring Bearista-themed drinkware, plush keychains, and matching accessories — will hit stores on Nov. 5, ahead of both drops.
The original Bearista, a 20-ounce bear-shaped cold cup topped with a green hat and a green-and-white candy cane-striped straw, sold out in less than a day when it debuted last December. Social media posts announcing this year's return have already accumulated more than 100,000 combined likes across Starbucks' Instagram and TikTok accounts.
The company has not yet disclosed pricing for the 2026 version. The original Bearista retailed for $29.95 last year; resale listings online fetched hundreds of dollars.
The Bearista relaunch comes as CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company a little over two years ago after engineering a turnaround at Chipotle, looks to sustain the momentum built under his Back to Starbucks plan. Following a strong Red Cup Day last year, Starbucks reported that U.S. comparable transactions turned positive for the first time in two years in its fiscal first quarter of 2026, which ended in December 2025, with U.S. same-store sales rising 4%.
Starbucks also has Red Cup Day on the calendar for Nov. 17 this year, when the company gives away reusable holiday cups to customers who order handcrafted holiday drinks.
Mizuho analyst Nick Setyan said he expects Starbucks to build on last year's results. "Merchandise seems to be all the rage across the restaurant industry," Setyan said, noting that competitors including Dutch Bros have also leaned into merchandise and sticker drops to drive customer engagement.
Setyan expressed confidence that Starbucks can repeat the success, pointing to a shift in consumer behavior rather than pure price sensitivity. "What is going on is there is a shift in how consumers are spending, and they prefer what they perceive as value, and value isn't necessarily just a price point," he said. "So, if they believe the experience is worth it, they're willing to spend."
Despite that optimism, Setyan cut his price target on Starbucks to $105 from $115 last week, citing lower valuations among restaurant peers and a slightly reduced fiscal 2027 profit forecast. He maintained a hold rating on the shares.
The economic backdrop has shifted notably since last year's Bearista launch. The average cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline stood at roughly $3.06 last October, according to AAA; this year, that figure is approximately $4.28.
Starbucks shares are up nearly 21% over the past 12 months and have outpaced the S&P 500's roughly 12.8% gain year to date in 2026, though the stock remains about 7% below its 52-week high of $110.51 set in mid-August.
Marketing and culture expert Kian Bakhtiari, founder of The People, a consultancy focused on Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers, attributed much of last year's Bearista demand to deliberate scarcity. "What Starbucks did was they created this feeling of scarcity where it became more popular as it became harder to get," Bakhtiari said.
The company's September quarter earnings, due Thursday evening, will give investors their first look at the financial backdrop before the holiday push begins — and an early signal of whether the turnaround Niccol has been engineering can hold its footing heading into the critical end-of-year stretch.
TechEchelon Staff bylines are produced collectively by the newsroom for short, breaking, and wire-style coverage. Longer-form reporting is published under the responsible reporter's name.
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