Berlin Notebook Review

I recently got a few samples of these Berlin Notebooks, which might not look like anything special on the surface, but keep in mind that old saying about not judging a notebook by its cover before you jump to any conclusions.  If you get through this review and are as impressed by these Berlin Notebooks as I was, then make sure you either check some out here on their site and/or check back for when we do the giveaway of a two pack of these in the coming days.

You’ve already seen the front cover of these Berlin Notebooks, so here is a quick look at the back of them as well.  I’m always a big fan of keeping things simple, so the minimal branding and print on both the front and back of the notebook definitely put a big smile on my face when I saw these.

Berlin Notebook Specs:

• 4.125″ x 6.25″ (105 x 158 mm)
• 48 pages
• 100 g/m² paper
• 350 g/m²  cover
• 8 perforated pages
• Double staple binding

Inside of the Berlin Notebook, the unruled 100 g/m² paper is held together with two staples, and as you can see its fairly easy to open flat.  There is an obvious simplicity that can be seen with this notebook, and although unruled pages aren’t my thing, I think the unruled pages here add to the overall aesthetic.  The pages here in the Berlin Notebook handle inks really well, so lets take a closer look at that situation.

The other thing beyond the composition of the Berlin Notebook that makes it so great and keeps with the simplicity is that they even offer the following shipping situation which is really a great deal for anyone looking to purchase these online that doesn’t live in or near Germany.  Here is the key part of their shipping policy that is worth noting:

Berlin Notebook offers you a world-wide flat rate shipping on all orders at our own online shop. No matter where in the world you are and how much you order, it costs you always 1,50€.

At the current rate, that 1,50€ ends up costing a very reasonable $1.81 in US dollars, which is really great.

Berlin Notebook Writing Sample:

So here is the really impressive part about the Berlin Notebook, which is the most important thing about any notebook really.  Writing on this paper was a fantastic experience from the feel of the nib on the page to the way it handled multiple inks.  None of the inks including some fountain pen inks such as Noodler’s Black Swan and Asutralian Roses and Noodlers Q Eternity showed any signs of distress when writing with them.  They didn’t bleed, they didn’t spread, and they didn’t show through even one bit to the other side.  Other pens such as the Pilot Precise V5, Sharpie Pen, and Pilot G2 performed equally as well, its kind of like this paper and these inks love each other and get along incredibly well.  The only minor issue you can see above is that there was a little bit of a slow dry time, but that can be said of many good quality papers so its certainly a minor thing to consider when the characteristics of this paper are so on point. Between the superb paper performance, the simplistic design, and the more than fair shipping expense, these Berlin Notebooks are absolutely worth a shot if you the size and ruling are something that work for you.  Thanks to the generosity of the folks from Berlin Notebook I’ll be doing a giveaway of a 2 pack shortly so stay tuned for that.  In the mean time, check out the Berlin Notebook website where you can grab some of these awesome little notebooks for yourself.