Officially marking the start of the festive period, The Nation's Favourite Coffee Shop*, Costa Coffee, reveals the design of this year's highly anticipated Christmas cups. Featuring the much-loved characters from previous years – with some new faces, the Christmas cups depict festive scenes of togetherness and will be available in stores nationwide from Friday 1st November.

T'is the season for Christmas Cups

Each colourful cup features a duo of Costa Coffee's iconic festive characters, reminding us that Christmas is the perfect time to come together. The cups feature five recognisable Christmas characters: penguins, reindeer, snowmen, bears and of course Santa Claus with his elves, picturing them celebrating the festive season together against Costa Coffee's iconic red backdrop, complete with twinkling snow.  

The perfect gift for coffee lovers

Coffee lovers can also get their hands on a sparkling new range of reusable coffee cups this Christmas. The perfect stocking filler, the range includes a sleek, collapsible silver and Costa Coffee red design, a beautiful rose gold tumbler and a transparent, double-walled cup reminiscent of a snow globe, complete with falling specks of red and gold glitter.

With all Costa Coffee customers saving 25p when using a reusable cup, it makes the perfect Christmas gift for the coffee lover in your life!

The history of the iconic Christmas cup

Costa Coffee's festive cups were first introduced in 2013, with Costa Christmas cup mania taking over the country every year since as fans try to get their hands on the limited edition cups. The launch of Costa Coffee's Christmas cups has become an iconic moment in the calendar, marking the start of the festive season for coffee fans across the country.

A history of Costa Coffee's fun and festive cups:

• 2013: Cups were dressed as different Christmas characters, featuring an elf, gingerbread man, snowman or Santa
• 2014: Beautiful new designs of Santa, a snowman and an elf adorned the Christmas cups
• 2015: The first time penguins were introduced to the Christmas cup range
• 2016: A new range of Christmas cups were introduced, with the cups dressed up as the iconic Christmas Jumper in a Fair Isle design
• 2017: Festive faces were illustrated as colourful baubles on our Christmas cups
• 2018: The much-loved Christmas characters returned and were joined by an adorably cute penguin and reindeer

Costa Coffee's new Christmas cups will be in stores nationawide from Friday 1st November with the new Christmas limited edition menu available from the same date.

High-resolution images are available upon request. For more information please contact the Costa press office on 020 3196 9668 or at Costateam@onegreenbean.com 

ENDS

Founded in London by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971, Costa Coffee operates over 2,600+ coffee shops in the UK and more than 1,300+ in 32 international markets. We are proud to be the UK's favourite coffee shop, having been awarded “Best Branded Coffee Shop Chain in the UK and Ireland" by Allegra Strategies for nine years running (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018). 

Making a positive contribution to the communities we are part of is extremely important to us, both here in the UK and across the world. That's why we established The Costa Foundation, a registered charity with the aim of improving the life chances of children in coffee growing communities by helping them access a safe, quality education. So far, the Costa Foundation has funded over 80 school projects and changed the lives of more than 75,000 children. We also have a UK-wide Community Programme, which enables our teams to volunteer their time to good causes locally and to invite community groups to make use of our welcoming space in store. 

In 2011 Costa Coffee purchased Coffee Nation rebranding it to Costa Express. Today, Costa Express operates over 8,500+ coffee bars in nine international markets and proudly serves the same famous Mocha Italia blend found in stores, combined with fresh milk to create a delicious and warming cup of coffee on the go.