Review by Laura Cameron
Recently I had the opportunity to review the Taroko Breeze notebook ($17.00). Unfortunately it looks like the Breeze is sold out, but Taroko has a variety of products available in the Taroko etsy shop if you’re interested in trying one.
The Breeze notebook is an A5 dot-grid notebook with 183 numbered pages of Tomoe River 68gsm white paper. The cover is made of sturdy black cardboard with silver foil lettering and logo on the front. Inside the covers are navy front pages.
The book itself is somewhat similar to the Rhodia Goalbook that I reviewed recently. At the front is an index page where you can note information that appears on precise pages. The following 183 pages are numbers in a pale gray dot grid. At the end of the book are a few pages for ink swatches and notes.
As you know I’m a huge fan of dot grid, and I really like this notebook. It has become my go to notebook for tracking work events. The dot grid makes it easy for me to draw a weekly calendar and then start making my lists.
The paper itself is very nice. I tend to prefer slightly thicker Tomoe River because I find show through to be distracting. While there is some show through with the 68gsm, the paper doesn’t bleed or feather, and I feel like I can use both sides of the page.
I’m actually a bit sad that the Breeze appears to be sold out everywhere. I’m hoping maybe they will reprint or bring back a different edition. Until then I have 183 pages to fill?
Update: (01/06/2020) The Taroko Etsy Shop is currently stocked with the Breeze A5 notebook as well as in their shop.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in review were provided free of charge by Taroko. Please see the About page for more details.
I think the Breeze and Enigma notebooks are considered Taroko standards, but in any case I have found the shop owner to be very prompt in responding to queries! I love their products. I’m currently using an A5 Enigma dot grid for Bullet Journaling, have an A6 in the wings to try in 2019, and just ordered a B-grade Enigma with blank pages to start using for personal long-form journaling.
Thanks for letting me know! This came out of the review bin, but I may very well be contacting them in the future!
Update: apparently a “new batch” of Breeze notebooks are in the works, possibly with some tweaks.
You’re welcome!