Time to cheer! Starbucks red cup season is here. But for a short time, Starbucks once again came under criticism after they unveiled an initial set of holiday cups.

On November 1st, Starbucks across the US launched their supposed holiday cup. The catch? It wasn’t red. It’s green. And, although a holiday color, it is not satisfying to those Starbucks connoisseurs who have raved in the past about the joy the red cups bring them. So why is this such a controversy?

The new green cup that the Seattle born company released blew up Twitter with nothing but negative feedback. The new cup became a symbol of everything that Americans have started to resent in this country. On the front of the green background, there is an outline of different faces of the country, depicting the everyday differences come across in the inevitably changing country. Although a very important and relevant topic of discussion to portray on our cups of coffee, some feel it doesn’t resonate with the Holiday spirit. Yes, a coffee cup is that big of a deal.

Soon after the negative feedback was heard in the Starbucks industry, they decided to not further their sale of the new Green cups, but did make a statement in saying “the new green cup we have released is meant to be a symbol of the stitching in people together as a united community.”

Demands were answered and as of November 10th, the new Holiday Red cup was released, along with an offer of “buy one, share one”. The red design is unlike any before. Along the edges of the Starbucks logo, white snowflake patterns align, reaching out to making continuous snowflakes. But not only are the snowflake designs so unique, but who drew them is what is truly authentic. Starbucks asked several hundreds of artists from around the world to help them reach their ultimate goal of creating a red cup, yet still trying to exemplify the theme they wanted, which was to incorporate the world’s diversity into one thing. Artists from Kenya, as well as the US and Europe have come together to create the Starbucks latest red cups that you will surely see everyone carry around this holiday season. Starbucks hopes that these will become less of an issue, yet they still hope others can see their aim in releasing the green cup.

Along with the colored cups this season, Starbucks is bringing back the old time classics including the Caramel Brûlée Latte, Peppermint Mocha, in Hot, Cold, or Blended options, as well as the Gingerbread and Eggnog Latte. And to further the new option that comes every year, this year’s new holiday drink features a Cold Brew option; a Spiced Sweet Cream Cold Brew, which some may say is not holiday appropriate.

From someone who has sipped on that new brew, Nazareth senior Sam Vasquez dishes out,“it’s different, and not my ideal holiday drink, but it’s still good. The spice adds the holiday feel to it, and it kind of tastes like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which is a plus!”

Through the controversies that our country faces on a daily, it’s safe to say that we can rely on Starbucks to be a peace-maker through it all.