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Our Story

   15 Years of Serving Central Illinois   

2007 was a big year for all of us. The final Harry Potter book was published, the Colts beat the Bears in Super Bowl XLI, Tesla introduced the world to the Roadster, and let’s not forget Apple’s release of a little device called the iPhone. However, Steve Jobs wasn’t the only innovator during that time. Yvonne Andresen had a dream, a vision to bring something new to the community that would serve and enrich the people of Washington. This dream was founded in coffee.

The idea was to start a coffee shop with the purpose of merging coffee and community together. In late 2007, the coffee landscape in the Greater Peoria area was sparse. When The Blend launched, it was at the forefront of the coffee scene, crafting eloquent, delicious beverages and introducing a level of gourmet whole bean coffee roasting that was both new and intriguing to the area. The Blend was built on purpose. The desire was to create a place in the community where people from all walks of life could come, enjoy coffee, meet people, get work done, and experience something new.

The Blend started as a traditional second wave coffee shop geared towards specialty coffee and away from your grandpa’s Folgers can, always striving for the highest quality product. With this attitude, we have come in line with the third wavemovement; placing a heavier emphasis on the origin of coffee and its production, in an effort to craft the perfect drink.

The Blend is now happily a product of both these influential movements in the coffee industry. Having an exciting passion for the craft, putting the product first, and emphasizing origin, while staying true to where it all began, has helped The Blend get to where it is today. Our hope is that The Blend will be a staple in the area for years to come. Drinking better coffee is defining. As a part of this unique community, this is our contribution.

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Yvonne Andresen

Owner of The Blend

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