Review: Tiefossi — a Beautiful Notebook with Numbered Pages

Tiefossi is an Chinese notebook maker that has been around since 2023. Their notebooks have recently become quite popular on Instagram and Amazon — so let’s see what all the fuss is about.

I’ll say this right away: this notebook made a very good first impression. It’s not only genuinely beautiful, but surprisingly functional too. But let’s start from the beginning.

A few words about the brand: Tiefossi

To be honest, there isn’t a huge amount of information about Tiefossi available yet. They do have their own website, but you won’t find an “About Us” or “About the Brand” section there. From their blog and Instagram, we know that the company has been around since at least 2018.

Their range focuses primarily on notebooks, but their store also carries washi tapes, stickers and all sorts of notebook accessories — the kind of things most of us would normally look for on AliExpress.

I haven’t been able to find the exact designs from their washi sets on the Chinese marketplace, so it’s possible that some of them are made specifically for Tiefossi.

The notebooks themselves come in several different sizes. A5 is probably the most popular, but there are also square notebooks (20 × 20 cm / 8 x 8 in), A6, B5, B6 and 11 × 21 cm (also called TN size).

If you’re familiar with Archer & Olive, you may notice that these are also formats used by them. Can you think of anyone else offering all six of these sizes?

Besides the version I tested, Tiefossi also makes lined notebooks with thinner 100 gsm paper and a much higher page count — up to 316 pages — as well as some absolute bricks of dotted notebooks with thinner paper and up to 400 pages.

The 192-page, 160 gsm version is their standard and most common configuration.

The notebook

Choosing my first Tiefossi notebook wasn’t exactly easy. Amazon Ireland had quite a few different covers and sizes available, and my final dilemma came down to the same cover — the Art Heirloom in Gray — in either A5 or square.

The “standard” A5 format simply made more sense for this review.

The notebook has a “vegan leather” cover with a debossed pattern painted in a darker shade of gray. The details that look like little gold studs are painted as well.

Inside, you’ll find 192 numbered pages of thick, white 160 gsm paper with a dotted grid.

As you can see, it also has a pen loop, two matching bookmark ribbons and gold-painted page edges. It looks genuinely well made — both pretty and solid. The hardcover is thick, and you can tell at a glance that it should be able to take quite a beating.

So, how does the paper actually handle my test?

Paper test

The paper in the Tiefossi notebook is thick, white and printed with a light gray dot grid. The dots aren’t too dark or too light — they’re easy enough to see without becoming distracting or overwhelming.

The page numbers are printed in the lower outer corners, and there’s a pocket at the back for loose notes and other bits and pieces.

As for the texture, I’d describe it as sitting somewhere perfectly between smooth and slightly rough. You can feel both the smoothness and a tiny bit of resistance as you write (or just touch the paper).

Quite an interesting experience.

Time for the test:

1. Dawn of Passage FWP -FWP The Marquise
2. 1984 George Orwell Wearingeul – Lamy LX <M>
3. Belle Bouquet FWP – TWSBI Eco <M>
4. Autumn in Auburn FWP – TWSBI Eco <M>
5. Almond Caramel Waffle Kitty Inkpot – Kaweco Sport <M>
6. Zig Clean Color Dot
7. Pilot G-2 0.7 mm
8. Zebra Mildliner
9. Retro Color Morandi highlighter
10. Stabilo Boss
11. 2-in-1 Marker
12. 2-in-1 Fineliner
13. Brush Pen
14. Stabilo Point 88
15. Tombow Fudenosuke
16. Sharpie Acrylic
17. Sharpie Permanent Marker

As you’d expect from paper this thick, ghosting and bleeding are practically nonexistent. Happy to report there is no feathering either.

The only thing you’ll be able to see from the other side of the page is the permanent marker. It shows through slightly, but even that doesn’t actually bleed.

That’s a very similar result to the Archer & Olive and BUKE notebooks I’ve tested previously.

In other words: more than respectable, and good enough to give you almost complete freedom when it comes to the media you use.

What can you use it for?

With a notebook like this, the sky is the limit.

On Instagram, the most common uses seem to be Art Journals and Reading Journals. Personally, I agree a notebook like this deserves to become something you’ll actually want to keep opening and filling in. Something that makes you want to come back to it.

In my case, it’s going to become a Gaming Journal — full of trackers, mini reviews, stickers and photos.

It should be beautiful and worthy.

With the thicker paper, this notebook would also make an excellent Bullet Journal or Art Journal. It’s definitely more of a desk notebook than something I’d happily carry around in a backpack (due to its weight), but it can handle being transported without a problem.

The sturdy hardcover should also do a good job of protecting whatever you put inside.

And don’t forget that the white paper won’t alter your colours, which is particularly useful if you want to paint, draw or swatch inks in your notebook.

Szczegóły

Price	about 25 euro / 28 USD
Format	A5
Paper	white, 160 gsm
Weight	580 g 1.28 lb
Page Count	192
Ruling	5 mm dot grid
Closure	elastic band
Cover	vegan leather
Back pocket	yes
Bookmark ribbons	2
Numbered Pages	yes

Final thoughts

I’ll admit it: my innocent search for “notebooks for science” on Amazon turned out to be a surprisingly good idea. (And there is so many more reviews coming!)

Tiefossi looked more interesting and better made than I expected at first glance, and the mention of numbered pages immediately caught my attention.

I’m happy to report that it lived up to my expectations — and honestly, it’s hard to find anything better at this price point. You know, like my nuuna, but with a more classic cover, and dots sizing that everyone expects to find in a notebook like that.

It may not be a notebook for everyone. It’s quite heavy, which makes it a little less convenient to carry around. But for desk-based projects, it’s pretty much perfect.

And honestly, it deserves slightly better treatment from me than being put back on a shelf for the next few years.

Where can you buy it?

Tiefossi notebooks are easy to find on Amazon (US, UK, in EU too), as well as on the brand’s official website. The latter has a much wider selection of accessories and slightly more designs, as well as more frequent promotions.

And what do you think of it? Would you give it a try?