Field Notes: Starbucks Capitol Hill

August 22, 2016

Starbucks “Capitol Hill” Edition is the 3rd collaboration between Starbucks Reserve and Field Notes Brand, following the Roastery Edition from 2014 and the “Coffee Origins” Edition from April 2015. It’s named after Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, where Starbucks Reserve Roastery & Tasting Room is located, and the rainbow colors of the set can easily be attributed to the neighborhood’s counterculture and LGBT communities.

Capitol Hill, just like the previous Roastery editions, was made to be an exclusive, in-store item at the Starbucks Roastery. It came out in late 2015, either late November or early December. I was in Seattle in late November and had just missed it! Judging from the fact that the Roastery still had the first two editions in stock then, I felt it’d be safe to wait for another chance to visit in the future, instead of relying on the secondary market. And my patience paid off. During my recent trip to Seattle in July, I was finally able to get my hands on Capitol Hill. Fortunately, they still had a bunch left, albeit in a drawer (they’d just forgotten to restock the shelves). The first two editions were surprisingly still available as well.

I’m glad to say, I like Capitol Hill more than I thought I would. There are many details in it to appreciate as a Field Notes fan, so I will list most of them here, with my thoughts mixed in.

Disclaimer: The neon colors were nearly impossible to photograph. I tried to represent all five colors as faithfully as I can but know that the magenta book and the salmon book were especially difficult and that they can look different from what my pictures may suggest. The salmon one is definitely more fluorescent and lighter in real life.

Things to note

Capitol Edition is a 5-pack, with 3.5" x 5.5" memo books in 5 different colors. I have no way of verifying all the branded Field Notes ever made but I have never seen a 5-pack before. The 5 colors are, as best as I can describe: salmon, magenta, yellow, light green, and navy blue. You might describe them differently but this is how I see them. All are very saturated colors, with salmon and green being neon. They hurt my eyes. It’s interesting that they went with 5 colors, instead of 6, which is the typical number of colors in a pride flag, and we’ve seen a few 6-packs of Field Notes before, e.g. National Crop (Spring 2012) and Workshop Companion (Summer 2015). Maybe 6 would’ve pushed it over their desired price point?

Covers are embossed with a polka-dot pattern, meaning the dots are raised up. Again, I’ve never seen this in Field Notes before. I haven’t written anything on the inside covers yet but when I do, I’ll have to watch out for these dots! Why polka dot though, I am not sure. Perhaps another reference to the Capitol Hill neighborhood? The embossing is done around all the text on the front and back cover, by the way.

White staples. An excellent choice for these fun, bright colors and the white text. The previous Starbucks edition, Coffee Origins, is also bound by three white staples.

The body paper is the white Finch Paper Opaque Smooth 60#T, which is the thicker version Field Notes is starting to use more these days. I really like this variation because it makes the memo book more substantial, and I can even use fountain pens in it.

Reticle grid comparison (l to r): Capitol Hill, Unexposed, and Night Sky. The gray in Night Sky is slightly lighter than the other two.

Reticle grid on the body paper of Capitol Hill is printed with Pantone “Cool Gray 2” Saphira ink. Other Field Notes editions that feature reticle grid are Night Sky (Summer 2013) and Unexposed (Fall 2014), which happens to also be printed with the same “Cool Gray 2” ink.

Texture comparison of Capitol Hill (top) and Coffee Origins (bottom).

Covers are made with Sappi McCoy Silk in 100#C. We’ve seen the same paper in the covers of Coffee Origins and Unexposed. If it weren’t for the embossed dots all over, Capitol Hill would feel identical to Coffee Origins texture-wise. Both have the same slightly rubbery, semi-glossy finish. Based on my experience, these covers are quite durable, and I like how pliable they feel. I should note, on the topic of texture, the inside covers of the salmon and the green books have almost powder-y feel to them. They’re definitely not as glossy as their front covers are, or as the insides of the other three colors in the set are. I am not sure if that difference is a function of the paper or the inks (the salmon and green ones are the most neon of the set), or if it’s unique to the set that I opened.

Starbucks Reserve Coffee Origins (top row) vs. Capitol Hill (bottom row). In real life, the salmon book on the lower right appears lighter and more neon. The magenta book is slightly bluer.

Capitol Hill (top row) vs. Unexposed (bottom row).

Even though Unexposed has the soft-touch coating on top of the same cover stock, Capitol Hill feels very close to Unexposed in spirit because they both feature fluorescent colors and the same gray reticle grid. Except, the text on the inside covers of Capitol Hill are a bit easier on the eyes than the ones in Unexposed. *shudders*

“Pink” comparison (l to r): Unexposed, Capitol Hill, and XOXO'13.

The magenta is very, very similar to the color of XOXO 2013 edition. The colors used, as printed on their back covers, are Pantone 246 for Capitol Hill and Pantone 2395 for XOXO'13. The XOXO cover is matte though. I’m actually glad that they’re so similar because I like the color and wouldn’t mind more of these medium “pink” Field Notes. Another color that I love from the set is the vibrant navy blue. Hard to describe it but it looks like there’s a hint of purple in it, too. A unique color in Field Notes so far in my opinion. My least favorite is the salmon one, the one unfortunately packaged on the very front.

This book unfortunately had a badly cut corner.

The embossed dots are starting to rub off a bit.

Wrapping it up

Capitol Hill draws several similarities to Unexposed and Coffee Origins but its embossed polka-dot covers, white staples, and thicker body paper make it a rather unique edition. I like the inspiration behind it, too. I may not love fluorescent colors but not all are that harsh on the eyes; it has some standout colors after all. I’ve been using the magenta book for a few weeks now, and the embossed dots and edges are starting to wear down nicely, with the white of the base paper showing through. Overall, it’s a great, fun edition worth a visit to the Roastery if you’re a fan of Field Notes and are in the area. Especially if you like bold colors and wouldn’t mind running into a camera everywhere you turn. It gets crazy packed with tourists there.

All three Starbucks Reserve editions (l to r): Roastery Edition, Coffee Origins, and Capitol Hill.

The back view of the three editions. Not everything can be printed in Futura Bold! And what's with the alignment on the birch cover? — The back view of the three editions. Not everything can be printed in Futura Bold! And what's with the alignment on the birch cover?

Rainbow! Coffee Origins + Capitol Hill. — Rainbow! Coffee Origins + Capitol Hill.

White staples, too! Coffee Origins + Capitol Hill.

White staples (from top): Capsule AW2015, Snowblind, Starbucks Reserve Coffee Origins, and Capitol Hill.

Some Specs

Starbucks “Capitol Hill” Edition, November, 2015
Item number: FNSBR-03
Price: $19.95 per one pack of 5 memo books
Edition size: unknown
Cover paper: Sappi McCoy Silk 100#C, printed with Pantone 805 (neon salmon), 246 (magenta), 109 (yellow), 802 (neon green), 2735 (navy blue) soy-based Saphira inks
Cover embossing: by Nu Wave Die Cutting & Finishing, Chicago, Ill.
Body paper: Finch Paper Opaque Smooth 60#T in “Bright White”
Reticle grid inside: Pantone “Cool Gray 2” soy-based Saphira ink
Belly band: white paper with black ink
Packaging: shrink-wrapped
Staples color: white

My Favorite “Practical Applications”

#14. Brunches Brunched
#16. Pour-Over Tricks
#22. Metaphorical Fires Extinguished
#28. Cleanest Dives

Quick orange color comparison (l to r): Expedition, Unexposed, Capitol Hill, Neon Ice Pop, DDC Pop-Up, Butcher Orange. I gave up trying to color correct these. Just know that the middle four books are supposed to be “neon”, with Neon Ice P… — Quick orange color comparison (l to r): Expedition, Unexposed, Capitol Hill, Neon Ice Pop, DDC Pop-Up, Butcher Orange. I gave up trying to color correct these. Just know that the middle four books are supposed to be “neon”, with Neon Ice Pop being the least neon. The DDC Pop-Up edition is supposed to be lighter and REALLY fluorescent.

Quick yellow comparison (l to r): Unexposed, Packet of Sunshine, National Crop “Corn”, County Fair, Capitol Hill, Drink Local Lagers “Pilsner”, Drink Local Lagers “Pale Lager”, and Sweet Tooth.

Quick green comparison (l to r): Summer Camp, Unexposed, Capitol Hill, Our503.com, and Shenandoah “Sweet Birch”.

Quick blue comparison: American Tradesman, Unexposed, XOXO Festival 2012, Capitol Hill, Cold Horizon, Coal x DDC, County Fair, Coffee Origins, and Unexposed.

Were you able to get your hands on this Capitol Hill edition? Which color is your favorite?

Field Notes Colors: Sweet Tooth

May 26, 2016

Sweet Tooth is the 30th edition of Field Notes COLORS, released in early March as the spring 2016 edition. Before its release, subscribers to COLORS were teased with a photo of a sheet of USPS stamps circa 1982, illustrated with state flowers and birds, and I immediately came up with rather straight-forward guesses. That the spring edition would be scented, philately-related, or that it’d be about state birds and flowers along the lines of County Fair. Maybe in spring-y pastel colors even. But nope! The new edition turned out to be quite bold with a colorful candy theme, three different foil-stamped covers, and matching perforated pages. Perforated! I failed to see that clue in the stamp sheet (Mr. Three Staples did, for the record).

Well, my Field Notes Colors posts keep getting longer and longer, and this one is no exception. So, if you prefer, the TL;DR is right below. Keep scrolling for the long version. Scroll down even more for the minutiae of this edition.

TL;DR

Sweet Tooth looks awesome but it's not a good fit for my daily writing need. Maybe for occasional use, since it's such a fun edition. Despite some misgivings, I renewed my subscription in order to get the amazing Commemorative Reprints. Field Notes still got me good.

My initial reaction to Sweet Tooth was overall lukewarm. While I was excited about the delicious-looking foil-stamped French Paper covers, I wasn’t sure about the perforated pages. I am generally weary of perforation in notebooks because if not done well, it makes pages weaker at the spine and they eventually fall out from frequent use. And Field Notes makes it pretty clear, in their product shots and video of Sweet Tooth, that the best use of this new edition is to tear out the pages as notes you can leave or exchange with other people. That is not how I use (and prefer to use) my Field Notes. I use them for daily journaling, and naturally I want the pages to remain intact. Not to mention, I already have plenty of note pads and sticky notes that I'm in the habit of using (mostly at home) that fit Sweet Tooth's intended purpose. Maybe Field Notes version is better because of its portability but that portability is not an issue for me currently.

Perforation is actually pretty subtle, isn't it?

Since I wasn't going to change my habits any time soon, I knew from the start Sweet Tooth wasn’t ideal for me. But I still tested it as a daily journal for about half a month, and I’m relieved to report none of the pages fell out on their own. And like Field Notes claimed, I did not feel the perforation too much while writing in it. I’m sure the accurate placement of staples this time helped with that, but the paper did feel just sturdy enough that none of the pages folded on their own. Perhaps that’s why Field Notes chose the thicker 70#T for the body paper than the usual 50#T. But I’ll be honest, the fact that the perforation is there with the possibility of the page getting torn out still makes me nervous, even though it’s executed well.

Speaking of body paper, I noticed many people voicing their concern about writing in colored paper, in this case red-orange, banana yellow, and sort of robin egg blue, that exactly match the covers. That I wasn’t too concerned about, since I actually like non-white innards. But once Sweet Tooth arrived, I realized the colors are bolder than I anticipated for my writing, and I had to rule out using the red one right away. Heck, even yellow felt too bright on my eyes, so I settled on using the blue book first. And it was just... okay. A little dark for my taste but I managed. My gel pens felt a little slicker on the paper (the same French Paper Pop-Tone as the cover), like it’s not as absorbent as the usual Finch Paper. I’m still on the fence about that. A brief test with my Pilot Kakuno F showed minimal feathering though, so that’s at least a good thing.

If I were to use these on a regular basis, I would use a black pen or marker with a wide tip, like a Sharpie.

Sharpie bleeds through just a little bit on the reverse.

Inside covers are printed in dark brown ink.

Visually, I really like Sweet Tooth. I love the texture variation provided by the metallic foil-stamping on matte French Paper covers (my favorite), and I really enjoy the dark brown ink on the inside covers, too. Not to mention the nice contrast provided by black staples. I confess, the candy theme is kinda lost on me but I’m still impressed by the “solid block of bright color” look they achieved by using matching innards. And the bright color choices make sense, since Sweet Tooth is meant to be used to leave notes. Notes that are meant to be noticed and read. Overall a unique and cheerful edition that reminded me once again that there’s never a dull moment in COLORS. But too many less-than-ideal features, like perforation, impractical body paper colors, and no ruling (my least favorite kind) make me place Sweet Tooth towards the bottom of my Field Notes ranking. It just doesn’t fit into my daily routine. But that’s okay; it wasn’t designed to, and I don't expect it to be a perfect fit every time. Good thing I have plenty of other Field Notes that I can use more comfortably and worry-free!

Firsts (and not firsts)

With Sweet Tooth, Field Notes accomplished two major “firsts” in their COLORS series, by perforating the innards and making the edition a “through and through” edition, where the color of the body paper matches the color of the cover. It’s not the first time Field Notes used colored innards; Northerly (Winter 2011), Traveling Salesman (Fall 2012), and Cold Horizon (Winter 2013) come to mind (excluding off-white innards here). But those colors were much more subdued than the ones inside Sweet Tooth. Plus, I believe it’s the first time French Pop-Tone is used as body paper.

The other “first” is that the innards are left all blank in Sweet Tooth, as noted on its inside back cover. If I'm not mistaken, I think that's a first, too, that they point “a COLORS first” out and print it so on the back cover (meta! See image above). Or am I making this up? I suppose we've seen blank pages before in Arts & Sciences but it was only partially blank, where the back of each page was left unprinted. Sweet Tooth is the first COLORS edition where all pages are blank.

As for the metallic foil-stamping, the last time we saw this printing technique in Colors was almost three years ago, in Night Sky (Summer 2013), and the first time was Balsam Fir (Winter 2010). I love foil-stamped covers, so I'm glad to see it again in Sweet Tooth, even though many of the recent non-Colors editions were also foil-stamped (e.g. Starbucks Reserve Roastery Edition and DDC Dead Prints). And the black staples? Sweet Tooth is not the first; Night Sky was.

Black staples assembled (from top): Night Sky, Capsule A/W 2014, all three Sweet Tooth, Pitch Black

The random stack order of Sweet Tooth is not a Colors first either. Each pack of Unexposed was randomly packaged too but that was out of 6 possible colors, whereas you get all 3 colors in each pack of Sweet Tooth. Interestingly, out of 4 packs of Sweet Tooth I received, three of them had banana yellow book packaged on the front. Why does it matter? It doesn't.

For Subscribers Only

Sure, the Smarties in my Sweet Tooth mail was a nice touch (and long since gone) but in terms of bonus items, I think the Commemorative Reprints take the cake. In case you haven't heard, that's a special 2-pack consisting of reprints of the very first two Colors editions: Butcher Orange and Butcher Extra Blue. And every subscriber with an active year-long subscription that includes Sweet Tooth gets this bonus with a custom belly band printed with their name in a separate shipment. Thematically, these reprints have nothing to do with Sweet Tooth but they're Field Notes' way of celebrating the 30th quarterly edition (Sweet Tooth) and thanking their Colors subscribers. I'm super impressed by this gesture. I don’t want to get too much into it (a separate post coming soon-ish?) but the fact that they're reprints of possibly the rarest Field Notes and that each pack is customized, puts this season's bonus in a class of its own. How are they going to top this?!? If they ever do, I'm sure it'll be another complete surprise.

As of this writing (late May), subscriptions starting with Sweet Tooth are still available, as are the individual 3-packs. By the way, the edition size of Sweet Tooth is 30,000 packs, which is more than the previous edition’s 25,000 packs (Snowblind), but still less than 40,000 packs two editions ago (Shenandoah). Does this matter? Maybe, maybe not!

Other notes

Field Notes have been making several changes recently, including shipping (which I noticed last year), checkout process, even email templates and website design. But the one associated with Sweet Tooth that I'd like to note is the subscription package. Most Field Notes orders used to come in brown envelopes but my latest order of Sweet Tooth (the first installment of my new subscription) arrived in a neat rectangular box printed with “Field Notes Quarterly Subscription” on the top. I prefer the box because it's a nicer presentation, and I noticed over the years that the little add-ons like Clic pens can leave dents on the memo books when the package is too stuffed. I've also seen buttons arrive in envelopes a bit crushed. I'll have to wait until the next installment to see if the box is only for the first quarter (where there are more extras), or for every quarter of the subscription. But for now, I approve this change!

As a side note, with the recent website change and all, I feel like Field Notes is putting less emphasize on the term “COLORS” and more on “Quarterly Editions” now. I mean, do you see “COLORS Subscription” on the box? I haven't thought this through but that's the impression I got recently. That makes me a bit nervous because I don't want the new summer edition to be another Arts & Sciences (which in my opinion is a completely different product format, not simply a COLOR variation). Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid. Maybe it's an exciting shift. Maybe it's just me! I doubt the item numbering “FNC” will change any time soon but I guess we'll just have to wait and see how their marketing changes over time. Anyway, that was a long side note.

Some fun (for me) details

Sweet Tooth is the 2016 spring edition of COLORS, the 30th in the series.
Item Number: FNC-30
Edition size: 30,000 packs, March 2016.
Covers: French Paper Pop-Tone 100#C in 3 colors: “Blu Raspberry,” “Banana Split,” and “Tangy Orange,” stamped with matching Crown Roll Leaf, Inc. series BW88 metallic foils, by Nu Wave Die Cutting & Finishing, Chicago, Ill.
Inside cover: text printed in unspecified brown ink
Body paper: French Paper Pop-Tone 70#T in the same 3 colors as above
Blank pages inside but perforated on press with the CITO RSP In-Line Finishing System.
Belly band: green (French Paper Pop-Tone “Sour Apple”?) paper with matching brown ink
Subscription-only extras: Commemorative Reprints of Butcher Orange and Butcher Extra Blue
Extras: “Hello” note with No. FN-25 “Sincere Pronouncement,” packaged in between the memo books
Staples colors: black
Film: Field Notes ‘Sweet Tooth’ Edition on Vimeo

Screenshot from Sweet Tooth promo video, a must-see for those looking for different ways to liberate the pages. Also: it's all about the Draplins, from Field Notes National Bank. (Check out that belly band!)

My Favorite “Practical Applications”

#3 Jaws Broken
#7 C6H8O7 vs. C12H22O11 (darn I can't format this properly)
#10 Cavity Tracking
#26 Showers to Flowers Ratio

Quick red comparison (from left): Fire Spotter, Starbucks Coffee Origins, TED, County Fair, Drink Local “Amber Ale”, Sweet Tooth, Tournament of Books 2015, National Crop “Sorghum”. Not pictured is the red orange book from Mackinaw Autumn, which also… — Quick red comparison (from left): Fire Spotter, Starbucks Coffee Origins, TED, County Fair, Drink Local “Amber Ale”, Sweet Tooth, Tournament of Books 2015, National Crop “Sorghum”. Not pictured is the red orange book from Mackinaw Autumn, which also uses the same French Pop-Tone “Tangy Orange” in Sweet Tooth.

I wonder why they chose green for the belly band...

Hey, it looks eerily similar to French Pop-Tone “Sour Apple” used in National Crop's “Soybeans”.

Quick yellow comparison (from left): Unexposed, County Fair, Drink Local “Pilsner”, National Crop “Corn”, Packet of Sunshine, Drink Local “Pale Lager”, Sweet Tooth, Neon Ice Pop

Quick blue comparison (from left): Just Below Zero, Flagged by Ellen, Sweet Tooth, Nixon

What are your thoughts on Sweet Tooth? Do you use it regularly? I hope I didn’t come off too negative. I still think it can be used effectively, especially for drawing or exchanging/leaving notes on the go, if you do that a lot. And as a fun gift! I definitely plan on gifting some Sweet Tooth to my young niece and nephew (and thus justifying subscribing with Sweet Tooth to get the Commemorative Reprints). Maybe I’ll start carrying one in my bag for random notes and see how it goes, too.

I wonder if Field Notes will ever make an edition with sticky notes...?

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