Unscripted Coffee opens downtown Vancouver with community voting on seasonal menu items

Sisters Angel Dee, 17, and Sara Dee, 23, are opening Unscripted Coffee at 455 Granville St. in downtown Vancouver by the end of July — a cafe designed to make customers part of the story rather than just visitors.

Sara, a UBC graduate who finished her accounting and real estate degree last spring, and Angel, who just finished high school, decided to swap summer plans for espresso machines and community building. Neither had worked in a cafe before, but they seized the opportunity when they found the unusual downtown location that came with a connected event hall and commercial kitchen.

"We honestly want to see what people want," Sara said, explaining that customers will vote on seasonal drinks and suggest future menu items. "We're going to have lots of experimental stuff that could potentially end up on the menu based on what people think."

The menu will feature espresso drinks, pastries from local suppliers, and colourful slushies inspired by their multicultural background, including Filipino mango and calamansi flavours. They recently acquired a panini press and plan to maintain a rotational menu based on customer polls and demand.

Beyond coffee, the sisters envision a community space with casual beanbag seating and an event hall for screenings and live music. A new community wall will invite local businesses to display products, and customers can leave sticky notes with ideas and vote on future concepts. "We've very carefully chosen our team by finding genuine people who truly care about our mission and make an effort to create a friendly community space for everyone," they said.

The name reflects their unscripted future. "We didn't actually plan to do this until the opportunity came up," Angel said. "We know we're a little crazy."