Crafted: A New Hotspot?

Emily Covarrubias, Reporter

Students at U-High are eager to find new places to meet up due to the lack of students attending in school learning. The new coffee shop Crafted might just be the right place for that. Crafted is located on the east side of Bloomington-Normal and opened this past December. 

Senior Mary Coddington expressed that she as well as many of her friends are excited to find new places to go to. 

“Because there aren’t many kids attending in-school learning lots of students are looking for other places to hang out or even drive to,” Coddington said. “I know my friends and I are getting bored of going to the same places everyday and just want a change.” 

Crafted proved to be that change for Coddington and her friends, especially since they are widely inclusive with dietary restrictions which Coddington has shared is one of her focuses when looking for new places to try. 

“The menu was a little overwhelming to look at, but once you see how many choices there are for you to make it shows how diverse the menu really is,” Coddington said. “I try to stay away from a lot of sugar, and on their menu they have a sugar free list of flavors you can choose from which was really nice because that is important to my everyday lifestyle.”

It might seem negative having an overwhelming menu but for senior Daniel Mosele this was a huge positive aspect. 

“They have like a million different flavors for their smoothies and frappes which is awesome because those are my two go-to types of drinks.” Mosele said. “I actually had a hard time choosing between getting a smoothie vs a frappe. There were so many options. To be honest, I wanted to try them all.”

After trying Crafted for the first time. Mosele said he plans to return to try a few more flavors. The wonderful choices he had are not the only thing that makes him want to return. 

“I would say my overall experience was very pleasant, when I went through the drive thru since right now that is the only option,” Mosele said. “I only interacted with one person but they seemed very nice and the timeliness was very good so it didn’t take too much time out of my day. I will definitely return to crafted at some point”

Giving a completely different perspective on Crafted is senior Ellory Landess, an active member of the Crafted Team. Her work life and student life don’t stray too far from each other. 

“I feel like I am a very hard worker when it comes to school and that aspect of my life has really shown through since I started working at Crafted,” Landess said. 

Landess says her work days are pretty routine..

“We start with an early morning opening, getting everything prepared for the day,” Landess said. “Throughout the day making drinks and aiding customers until closing later in the night to wash and clean everything.” 

As two students have mentioned there are many choices at Crafted; could it be that there are too many? Landess said learning to make each drink on the menu was a challenge initially.

“When I first started, I had to study a packet that had every drink on the menu with a specific recipe for each drink,” Landess said. “I caught on pretty easily and now I would say I know how to make every drink on the menu.”

It has only been three short months and Crafted has become a buzz amongst many students. Landess said she gets to see many students as customers, and hopes she might get to see some more familiar faces in the near future.