Apica Notebooks - A Quick Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I had heard of Apica notebooks before, but hadn’t really given them much thought since we all know I already have way too many notebooks in the paper fort, but I have some friends who really enjoy using Apica so I thought I’d give them a try.

The Apica C.D. line of notebooks comes in sizes ranging from A4 to A7 (and B5 too) and is available in 10 colors. The Premium C.D. comes in A4, A5, B5, and A6 and comes in “A. Silky 865 Premium” and “Cream Woodfree Paper” (the latter is only available in A5). I am using the C.D. Notebook in A6 and the Premium C.D. Notebook with Silky paper in A5.

Apica C.D. Notebook in A6.

Apica Premium C.D. Notebook in A5 has a cellophane cover (handy for slapping stickers on for the non-committal folks like me).

Here’s the notebook without the yellow band and cellophane cover. If you didn’t already know the brand, it’s hard to tell that this notebook is Apica. It is also foil-stamped “Premium”.

The itty bitty logo at the bottom of the notebook tells you if it’s Apica C.D. (top) or Apica Premium (bottom).

Side note: I am using the A6 to keep track of my Italian learning and vocabulary. Most days, I’m just doing Duolingo, but sometimes I listen to podcasts or read Italian books. I’m not using this to memorize vocabulary, per se, but writing it down makes it stick a little more. Also, I’ve been making screenshots/highlights on my phone and then copying the words down later. That way, it’s like doing a review several days/weeks later when I get around to putting them in the notebook.

Writing samples in the A6 Apica C.D. Notebook. The paper is white but not overly bright.

You can see some feathering from Colorverse Chesapeake Bay.

You can see some ghosting and a wee bit of bleedthrough on some of the dots.

Here’s how the page looks with writing on both sides.

It generally handled the flex writing from my Stylosuite X-Wing Harpoon flex nib. I didn’t see any of the subtle chromashading of Sailor Ink Studio 143 though.

Can you see the shimmer up top? Not the paper’s fault but my pen decided to let out a bunch of shimmer - this is what I get for not periodically rotating my nib up/down to redistribute the shimmer. Still, it handled the shimmer just fine.

Look at the entries for 9.12.26 and then look at the same section in the next picture.

Look at the sheen of Diamine Polar Glow! It’s blue in the above picture and almost hot pink from this direction!

A different flex nib from Stylosuite which is much sharper than the other one - hard to tell if the feathering is from the ink (Bungubox Tsuyuhikari) or from the nib making microscratches on the paper.

My dedicated set of standard pens and pencil: Uni-ball Signo DX, 0.38, Pilot G-2 07, Frixion Clicker 07, Parker Jotter Ballpoint, Lamy Tipo Medium, Parker Flighter Gel, Spoke Clickstream, Schmidt EasyFlow 9000 M, Zebra Sarasa Clip 05, Ticonderoga HB Soft, Sakura Pigma Micron 05, Tombow ABT, color 476, Sharpie.

Std pens and pencil on the A6. No problems with any of them on this paper. Side note: I “lost” this clear Penco Clampy on my desk multiple times while taking pictures cuz the dang thing is clear, aka invisible. Keep that in mind if you buy this “color”. 😀

No bleedthrough on anything but, you guessed it, the Sharpie. I don’t know why I bother with the Sharpie but maybe one day I’ll find a fountain pen friendly paper that it won’t bleed through.

One of my pet peeves is when the first/last page of a notebook is glued to the cover so it doesn’t flip properly without being creased.

Overall, the A6 paper was ok. Not great, not awful, never knew what would make it bleed through, though it usually didn’t bleed through too much (Sharpie aside, of course). I kept thinking I must be missing something because this doesn’t seem good enough to be some folks’ favorite paper. That’s when I did a little digging on the Apica website and realized that there were different papers. So now I was really curious to see how the A5 behaved.

In the A5 Premium C.D. notebook, I logged the pens/inks used for the entries starting 8.22.26.

Pens/Inks used: Platinum Curidas, Fine; 3 Oysters Aubergine (picked for the very fine/thin line) Lamy Studio, 14kt gold Fine; Colorverse Chesapeake Bay (shading ink) Pilot Decimo, Fine; Akkerman #16 Oranje Boven (fine nib) Pelikan M800, Fine Cursive Italic; Pelikan Edelstein Apatite (wet pen with a grind and a slightly dry ink) TWSBI Eco, Fine; Robert Oster African Gold (just cuz, lol) Zodiac Pen Co Virgo, Stylosuite EF X-Wing Harpoon; Sailor Ink Studio 143 (flex and subtle chromashader) Visconti Van Gogh, Medium; Wearingeul x Atlas Stationers Twelfth Night (shimmer) Sailor Pro Gear, 21kt gold Medium Fine; Diamine Polar Glow (sheening ink) Esterbrook Estie, Fine Journaler; KWZ Beefeater Red (wet ink) Platinum 3776, Medium; Van Dieman’s Spotted Sun Orchid (cuz it’s pretty) Leonardo Momento Magico, Stylosuite EF X-Wing Harpoon; Bungubox Tsuyuhikari (wet pen, sharp flex)

You can see the shimmer in the Visconti, the sheen from the Sailor, and the feathering of the Leonardo with the sharp flex nib and Bungubox ink.

The bleedthrough is primarily coming from the two flex nibs, but there are occasional spots where there is more ink, especially dots.

As with the C.D. paper, the Apica Premium did just fine with the standard pens/pencil. Side note: I appreciated the blue “stitches” in the middle of the signatures/sections of paper. It made it easy for me to find the middle, so I could remove these sheets down the road when I figure out what I want to use this notebook for. They don’t do this in the regular C.D. notebooks - all of those stitches are white.

Same as the above, no problems on the back, except for the Sharpie. Good thing I put a sheet of scratch paper underneath because it did transfer to the page behind it.

Same pet peeve in the Premium notebook. Not the end of the world, it’s just kind of annoying. FYI, the notebook’s spine is intact - what you see on the bottom is the yellow “belly band” of the notebook.

I liked the Premium paper more than the regular C.D. paper. While the C.D. is fairly smooth (a touch smoother than Leuchtturm or Rhodia), the Premium is even smoother, which I prefer. Both papers portrayed ink colors pretty accurately though some of the more subtle chromashades didn’t show up as much as other papers out there. Both had some bleedthrough with flex nibs, so I’d avoid flex or super wet nibs/inks on both of these papers.

At around $4 for 52 pages in the Apica C.D. A6 notebook, I’m ok with how it behaved, though I wish it came in more options than just lined. The Apica Premium C.D. A5 notebook costs $19 for 96 pages, and it’s also available in blank, lined, grid, and dot grid. As I said, both are fine, and I’ll use the ones I have but I probably won’t be rushing to restock them.

(Disclaimer: All notebooks were purchased by me from Vanness Pens (for the A6) and Flax Pen to Paper (for the A5). All pens/inks are my own.)

Apica Blank Twin Ring A5 Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

There's something to be said for the allure of a plain and simple tool when compared to the luxurious. Fine luxury items have their place, but no matter how expensive your tastes might become, it's difficult to ignore a good basic option. To me, that's exactly what the Apica Blank Twin Ring notebook line exemplifies. It's a no-nonsense, no frills, basic notebook with zero branding and good paper. The latest version I've added to the notebook collection is the Apica Blank Twin Ring A5 lined notebook. It's a spiral-bound notebook that gets the job done for a low price, and I love it for that.

This notebook is a slim spiral-bound format with 30 sheets of 70 gsm white paper with lines spaced out by 6.5mm. You have your choice of either red or blue rings, but that's where the customization ends. The plan brown cardstock covers are lightweight but also offer a fair bit of protection against everyday use. The corners of the cover and sheets are rounded off, meaning they won't snag as easily on bags and other objects. Apart from the retail SKU/barcode sticker on the back cover of the notebook, there's zero branding to be found. I like this minimalism quite a bit, and it adds to the sparse feel of this notebook.

The 70 gsm paper is thin but highly effective. I only notice writing showing through from the other side of the sheet when using a large stub nib or extremely wet nib/ink combinations. For everyday conditions and "normal" EF-B nibs, it works great. The paper feel is smooth with a small amount of feedback, and it doesn't cause any weird bleeding or feathering like other papers I've tried in cheaper notebooks. It's a great paper, and I really enjoy using it. I know that lined paper is not everyone's favorite style, but it's a fantastic notebook option if you like lines.

This notebook (and brand) is ubiquitous and utilitarian in Japan, but not in the US. I'd like to think that this notebook is similar to how someone who grew up in the US might think about standard Mead spiral notebooks. They're incredibly cheap, available at basically every store, and you go through dozens of them while in school. They're not the most robust notebooks, but you can't beat the price! It's this utilitarian and minimalist design that I really like about this notebook, and it's also whey I always have one going in some way or another around my desk. If you haven't checked these out and could use a great "throw-around" notebook, the Apica Blank Twin Ring A5 notebook is a fantastic option.

If A4 isn't your thing, you can also pick these up in semi-B5.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Apica CD Premium Notebook Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Last week I reviewed the Apica CD Grid Notebook, a thrifty gem with a quality that far outpaces its price. Today I'm reviewing its elegant cousin, the Apica CD Premium Notebook. The word "premium" gives us the first clue as to the difference between this notebook and the CD Grid. This one costs a bit more. But it's still a very good price at $13.75. Considering the book's excellent quality, it's still a bargain.

This notebook is much thicker than the CD Grid, with 96 pages that can be used on both sides. The paper itself is heftier, too, at 86.5 gsm. The primary thing that this paper is known for is its silky smoothness. There is almost no texture to the paper at all, so your pens will glide over it like butter on hot glass. And pick any pen you want, because this paper can handle just about any of them, even watercolor. The Sharpie dotted through a bit, but it wasn't even a full bleed-through. That smooth surface does mean a longer dry-time, however.

The cover on the Premium is a thick cardstock. This cover isn't textured at all, but has a lovely metallic print scrollwork, with the handy advice, "Choose the paper like you would a good pen." This whole notebook was specifically designed for picky users. I mean, of course, discerning paper connoisseurs like ourselves. The binding is thread and glue, reinforced with fabric tape. The signatures are very small, making for crisp, even binding, and they're joined with thread that matches the red color of the cover. The thoughtful binding also allows this notebook to lay flat on any page.

It comes in ruled, grid, and blank pages, with blue, red, or black covers. This red version has 5mm grid with a lovely faint grey print that won't distract or fence you in, if you choose to disregard it.

This is probably more notebook than one would need for school notes, and a bit too small for a novel, but it's perfect for a journal, bullet or otherwise, and it would make an excellent commonplace book. The paper also makes it a great ink and pen testing book. The A5 size will fit perfectly into most notebook covers, though it's sturdy enough that it doesn't necessarily require one.

I'm always impressed with the Apica line, and this fancy CD Premium Notebook is another gem in their lineup. I highly recommend it.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!