J. Herbin Café des Îles — Ink Review #143

J Herbin Café des îles

 

Ink Review # 143

 

Originally posted on FPN: Sep 4, 2024

 

Ink: J Herbin Café des îles

Brand: J Herbin

Country: France

Availability: 10 ml, 30 ml bottles and I believe cartridges.

Pens Used: Lamy (Reverse EF/ EF/ F /M /B, BB), Osmiroid Copperplate nib.

Description

According to the Herbin website:

"Café des îles (Island coffee): a light brown color reminder of the great coffee smell enjoyed at the terrace of a café in a far away island."

You be the judge 😛

This is a dryish, Ovaltine colored, reddish brown, which shines on Japanese paper, mostly with Iroful and 68 gr Tomoe River Paper. It doesn’t remind me of coffee. One can say, it's a lighter version of Private Reserve Vampire Red, but easier to clean. Surprisingly long dry time on Rhodia, so not suitable for lefty overwriters

It's not a good candidate for copy paper. It ghosted and bled through Hammermill 20 lb copy paper. I didn't bother to scan the horror show

Chroma

Writing Samples

I've added Iroful paper to the lineup. For a lot of inks, it can bring out extreme shading and enhance colours. Note this paper is very sensitive to hand oils as you can see in the Stub and flex lines. The coating has been removed and the ink doesn't adhere to the paper.

Close up scan of Tomoe River and Iroful. Note how shading is accentuated in Iroful.

Rhodia

Midori

Tomoe River 68 gsm

Iroful / Les toits writing comparison

Photo


Comparison

Water Test

Left side 10 seconds under running water. Paper is Mnemosyne

Artwork

Café and Ovaltine - What happens if you order a Café des îles coffee in a Parisian café. They'll serve you Ovaltine

Paper is a Talens Mixed media pocket book. I used different dilutions of Café des îles. At the bottom it is most concentrated. I used a glass nib tipped in bleach to create the "foamy" part on the top.

Noodler's Lexington Gray / Polar Green

Rohrer and Klingner Königsblau & Helianthus with bleach

Ink Characteristics

What I liked: Name.

What I did not like: Color doesn’t remind me of coffee. It's a bit reddish pale for my taste.

What some might not like: Dryish ink, It isn’t black coffee.

Shading: Very nice on Japanese Paper, especially Iroful

Ghosting: Yes, on cheap paper.

Bleed through: Yes, on cheap paper.

Flow Rate: Wet.

Lubrication: Slightly below average. 

Nib Dry-out: Did not notice.

Start-up: Ok

Saturation: Pastel.

Shading Potential: Great on Japanse Paper.

Sheen: No.

Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice.

Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice.

Staining (pen): No.

Clogging: Did not notice.

Cleaning: Easy.

Water resistance: decent.

 

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples, or any other comments. The more the merrier. 😊

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