Five anonymous audit visits scheduled. Albatross Coffee Roasters first. Photography rolls in parallel. Issue 02 newsletter sign-up opens once the first scorecard is live.
01Site status
Issue 01 is published as a pre-audit research preview. The directory structure, the ranking logic, and the editorial method are live. The scorecards themselves are not — we wrote the framework before we did the visits on purpose, so the framework can be challenged before the scores are filed.
If a Pattaya cafe owner reads this and disagrees with how we'll score, the door is open. Email info@pattaya-coffee.com before we walk in, not after.
02Audit pipeline
Albatross Coffee Roasters — Visit 1
Editor walks in anonymous, orders signature drink plus a milk drink for comparison, pays cash. No interview. No introductions. Score sheet filled at a different cafe, two hours later, while memory is fresh.
Nitan, Sunset, Backstreet — Visit 1 each
Three Naklua and Central Pattaya audit visits — Nitan, Sunset, Backstreet. Different days, different times of day. Notes filed separately and reconciled at end of week.
Return visits begin
Second visit to Albatross. Different barista, different time of day. The whole point of twice-minimum: did the first cup happen because we got the dialled-in shift?
First five scorecards file
Pre-audit banner removed from the first five cafe pages. Scores published with full-resolution editor photography. Pattaya Coffee 30 ranking updated for the first audited tier.
Newsletter opens
Privacy-first signup, single monthly issue, no third-party trackers. Issue 01 wrap when all 16 scorecards are filed.
Issue 02 planning
Expansion from the 16 currently in research to a full 30. Candidate longlist closes mid-July. Suggestions welcome — email or via /feedback.
03What we're not doing
We are not running paid ads, sponsored placements, or affiliate links. We are not running Google Analytics or third-party trackers — see /privacy for the full data posture. We are not building an app — the site is the product. We are not on Instagram yet; original photography is scheduled before any social presence launches.
If a section of the site feels thin, it's because we'd rather ship one page that's right than ten pages that are filler.
04Open questions
A few things we haven't decided on, and would value reader input on:
- Newsletter cadence. Monthly issue-recap or weekly short notes from the audit floor?
- Bean-source taxonomy. Do readers care about importer (e.g. roaster X via importer Y) or only about origin country?
- Issue 02 scope. Expand to 30 cafes in Pattaya proper, or include Naklua + Jomtien at a 30 total?
If you have a take, the editors read every email at info@pattaya-coffee.com.
Last updated: .
Update cadence: Weekly while the editors are in town for the Issue 01 audit, monthly otherwise.
About this page: Inspired by the /now movement — a public, low-stakes snapshot of what an editorial team is actually working on right now.