Tea journals are hard to come by. In fact, the only other one I’ve reviewed is the now out of print Moleskin Passions Tea Journal. What impressed me about this notebook from +Čaj Chai was that is is very straightforward. There’s no unnecessary fluff like recipe pages. The pages are large enough to allow plenty of note taking while still being portable and easy to manage. I’ve never seen fields for the shape, type of leaf or number of buds before but those are definitely appreciated. Instructions are provided for using the ISO-3103 method of evaluating tea but the pages could just as easy be used for gongfu brewing.
The flavor wheel is simple but enough to get the beginning note taker thinking in the right direction. The list of organoleptic terminology in the back is a great guide for tasting notes when you are drawing a blank. I love that there aren’t definitions provided for them because each drinkers’s interpretation can be different. One person’s honeysuckle is another person’s orchid. There is room for notes on 30 teas. While that’s not a huge amount, it isn’t very expensive so I wouldn’t mind picking up a few of these. I highly recommend giving this notebook a try. Whether you’re just starting out or you are an old pro, it is flexible enough to provide something for everyone.
You can find out more about this book here.