Everyone’s favourite dancing coffee cup seems to have had a makeover, appearing this week in a hot pink number that has now raised questions over the cup’s true identity. Our inbox has been flooded in the last couple of days with readers keen to report on the significant wardrobe change for the beloved caffeine mascot, with some delving a little deeper to ask the big questions.

One such concerned reader, who requested strict anonymity, asked, “So, what’s the go with the new suit? I’ve always thought those legs were a bit slender to be a bloke’s. Is it possible that the so-called ‘Coffee Man’ is actually a woman? Or was it a woman all along, and my outdated understanding of gender has been exposed by my equally outdated assignment of specific colours to specific genders? I’m really confused, and I need your help.”

While we too may have initially fallen victim to applying gender stereotypes to the dancing coffee cup, often referring to it as a man in the early days, we were kind of guided by the cup’s Facebook page that is entitled The Pitstop Cup Man. However, in recent years we have been forced to reconsider the matter, as those daily dance moves have often seemed beyond the average man’s capabilities, not to mention those slender legs.

Based on the evidence, what do you think? Is the coffee cup male or female? And does it even matter?

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