As the ornaments arrived this year it became clear that some of the Asian versions of the To Go Cup ornaments had a slightly different shape.  They were thinner and taller.  Upon investigation I discovered a number of differences and this is not the first time Starbucks has done this.  It seems the key factor for the size difference is whether it is a one piece or two piece construction.

When ceramic is made the liquid clay, slip, is poured into plaster molds.  After a short while the internal portion must be drained as the pottery can’t be solid.  Click for a tutorial on ceramics.  If you look at most of the ornaments, there is a hole on the bottom from which the slip was poured.  These are a one piece construction. However, the new Asian ornaments are solid bottoms.  As you look closely though there is a seam where the lid, made separately, has been attached.  Thus two piece construction.

It seems that the two piece construction is taller, 2 5/8″ and narrower at the base, 1 1/2″.  The one piece construction is 2 1/2″ tall and 1 3/8″ at the base. There are two exceptions to this where the two piece construction was done, but the standard size was used (see list below).

This led me to look at previous years, and sure enough, I discovered this was done before.

Two Piece Construction Ornaments (tall and narrow)

• 2015 Red Crystal
• 2015 White Crystal
• 2016 White Crystal
• 2016 White Sweater Asia
• 2016 Red To Go Cup Asia
• 2016 Red Plaid To Go Cup Asia
• 2016 To Go Cup Fox-Penguin-Bear Asia

Two Piece Construction (standard size)

• 2013 Create Your Own
• 2014 Crystal

I can not speculate why this was done, only sharing that it was done.