Ink Review #26

*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.

Overview

The color/properties:

In most conditions, Taccia Cha is a mostly solid color that offers a soft gradient between light and deep brown. It’s not a lot of shading, but I think it provides a level of richness to the color that makes it stand out on the page.

I don’t expect that there would be many different results in other conditions, but it’s possible that you can get more aggressive shading out of a wetter pen. Some conditions may produce black edging around the letters, and a drier pen may produce a lighter, milkier brown.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

Taccia Cha is well-behaved. I didn’t notice any bleed-through or feathering on any of the test papers. The dry times were mostly average, but the fine nib took noticeably longer than usual to dry. I also found that the larger nibs tended to extend just a hair past the 20-second mark.

There’s a small amount of water resistance, but most of the color washes away and creates a harsh cloud that makes the remains very difficult to read.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Taccia Cha performed well in all my test nibs. There was a consistent medium flow that provided ample lubrication and a comfortable writing experience. During my tests, I didn’t run into any hard starts, skips, or stops and I would say that Taccia Cha should perform well in most pens.

Cleaning was easy and the water ran clear with a routine flush.

• Performance in a pen: 10/10

• Performance on paper: 10/10

• Color saturation: 5/10

• Sheening: 0/10

• Shading: 4/10

• Dry time: 7/10

• Water resistance: 2/10

• Ease of cleaning: 10/10

• Shimmer: None

My personal thoughts...

As the packaging would suggest, Cha is a word for Tea, and I think that Taccia Cha generally fits that description. Granted, it did take a lot of consideration before I came to that conclusion. It almost resembles tea. There’s a rich creaminess to the color that makes it look almost like tea with added milk. With that said I personally find that the color is too dark, and lacking in a certain depth to truly resemble what they were trying to achieve. I find it to be more of a loose approximation of a dark tea color. Tea does, of course, come in many different colors, but I just can’t help but feel that this isn’t it. Aside from my minor tie-ups with the name, I still think it’s functionally an excellent brown that doesn’t carry a high price and performs well. It’s worth considering if you enjoy brown inks (or tea).

More images/info:

Tools and materials used in the writing samples:

• A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.

• A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad

• A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook

• A Midori MD A5 Notebook

• A 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

• A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

• A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook