Pelikan Ink of the Year: Edelstein Apricot Achat

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Pelikan announced Apricot Achat as their Ink of the Year for 2025 back in February and then announced their matching pen in June. Most folks, including me, waited on purchasing the ink, in hopes that it would be included in last weekend’s Pelikan Hub. Unfortunately, not every hub got Apricot Achat for their attendees. Some hubs (like mine) were lucky enough to get the ink, while others got a seemingly random assortment of inks, which may or may not have included Apricot. I thought I’d do a mini review of this ink so you can decide whether or not it’s worth adding to your collection.

Pelikan Edelstein Apricot Achat swatched on Col-O-Ring with a Kakimori stainless steel dip nib.

In the past, most of the Edelstein inks, including the Ink of the Year, had black caps. That changed starting with Moonstone (2020), which had a silver cap. In 2021, Pelikan released its first shimmer ink, Golden Beryl, which was a gold colored ink with golden shimmer. That ink had a gold cap. The following two years, both Apatite and Rose Quartz had silver caps and neither were shimmer inks. Last year, Golden Lapis was a blue ink with gold shimmer, and again a gold cap. When the official photos of Apricot Achat were released with a gold cap, some thought it would be a shimmer ink, but it is not. Anyone else figure out the logic? Me neither.

One of the official pictures from the Apricot Achat press release.

Star Ruby (IOTY 2019) and regular Edelstein inks, like Onyx, had black caps. Silver caps and no shimmer for Moonstone, Apatite, and Rose Quartz, but gold caps and shimmer for Golden Beryl and Golden Lapis, but no shimmer for Apricot Achat.

I had to pillage the nibs from a few pens in order to get writing samples. After swapping the nib, I primed the nib a bit and then made a few scribbles on some scratch paper (where I discovered one of the nibs wasn’t fully cleaned, eek!) before making the “official” writing sample.

Writing samples with the Pelikan M200 Apricot Achat with nibs ranging from Extra Fine to Double Broad, and also Italic Broad.

The Apricot Achat is quite legible, even with the Extra Fine nib. I suspect that it would be lighter in some of the drier pens/nibs out there, like the Lamy steel nib, finer Sailor nibs, etc. Pelikans are fairly wet writers, so Pelikan compensates for that by making their inks on the drier side. Some of their inks are much drier than others, especially those in the 4001 series, as well as lighter colored inks like this one. I don’t think I would enjoy using this ink in a drier pen.

Decided to use the different nib sizes to write another page of Meditations. Each nib is used for four lines, starting with Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, Double Broad, and Italic Broad.

It’s really hard to tell the difference between Double Broad and Broad when the letters barely fit between the lines.

I didn’t have as many inks in this color as I thought I did. Most of the inks that were “similar” were much more saturated, or were more orange (and not peachy/apricot-y enough) or too yellow/red/etc.

Inks similar to Apricot Achat: Colorverse Space Needle (a touch too red/pink), Troublemaker x Flax Pen to Paper Momo Mochi, and Sailor 2023 Pen Show Ink (a bit too bright).

At $38 MSRP for a 50ml bottle, Pelikan Edelstein Apricot Achat is definitely on the pricier side, but if you really like the color, you can often find it for less at vendors like Dromgoole’s.

(Disclaimer: I purchased the Pelikan M200 Apricot Achat and the Maruman Mnemosyne notebook (from different vendors), and received the ink as part of the Pelikan Hub.)

Kobe Ink University Romanesque Blue Ink Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

If there's one thing that fountain pen users and knitters have in common (in addition to all the other things we have in common), it's that we all understand what it means to say "yeah, it's another blue, but it's a different blue." It's a phrase usually uttered while acquiring a new blue thing that is essentially indistinguishable from the blue thing you already have. But can you have too much true-blue ink with a ruby sheen? Maybe. Maybe not.

Kobe Ink University Romanesque Blue really is the truest of blues. Chromatography just says "blue." It's not complex or layered at all, though it is very well saturated.

It has a slow dry time, so could be bothersome for lefties. Even at 25 seconds, it was still smudging fairly significantly. A full dry line took nearly a minute. I'd advise to use it with blotting paper, but then you'd lose the one cool effect this ink has, which is its sheen. It has a ruby red-pink sheen that comes out where the ink pools and dries, and it is strong enough to even show up in writing, not just in ink tests. It's difficult to capture sheen in photographs, but this one varies from a pink to a red to a burgundy-purple depending on the light level and angle. It was a lot of fun to watch this ink dry and come alive.

It is not waterproof at all, but it's so pigmented that any water droplets just seem to become more ink. It layers well, with faint lines showing as a lovely sky blue, then deepening to a full navy.

It behaves well overall and is very pleasant to write with. It's a practical color that's perfect for everyday use, and still has that fun punch of sparkly sheen to keep it from being boring.

Kobe inks come in squat, shallow, blown glass ink pots. They're very sturdy and a good shape for storage, but the shallow shape can make it difficult to access the ink with your pen once the level starts to get low. A 50ml bottle of this color sells for $35 at Vanness Pens, which is a fairly standard price for these nice Japanese inks. If you need another blue--a totally different blue!--then this is a nice one.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Teranishi Guitar Night Time Soda Fountain Pen Ink Review

It was mid-2022 when I reviewed my first Teranishi fountain pen ink, and I became quickly enamored. Nostalgic Honey is a favorite, and put the brand squarely on my radar. I’ve used several of their other inks since then, and while the brand hasn’t expanded outside the 16 shades created for the company’s 105th anniversary, they are some of my favorite inks on the market. Heck, at this point, I should just grab all of them because I’m almost halfway there as it stands.

Next in the review queue is Night Time Soda, a shade that I bought at the 2025 Atlanta Pen Show from The Gentleman Stationer. I had another Teranishi ink, Innocent Mauve, in my hands already, but the wisdom of the crowds - aka peer pressure - added this interesting Blue ink to my cart. What can I say, I’m easy!

One look at the images tells you that Night Time Soda is a Blue ink, but can it be described more specifically than that? That’s the fun I’ve been having with this ink since the first time it hit the page. It’s not your standard, ships-with-the-pen Royal Blue, which is a shade I’m fond of. Nor is it Blue Black, which is quite possibly my favorite ink shade of all-time. It’s not Navy or Midnight, and it’s certainly not any of the brighter shades. If anything, it leans towards the dusty side of the ledger, but is much more rich in tone and saturation to be called that.

So what is it? The best I can come up with is Blue+. It’s better than any stock Royal Blue in my book because it offers more on the page. It’s darker, with character. I see hints of Grey, a touch of Purple, a tinge of Red sheen in wetter areas, and decent shading in some lines. All of it is subtle, but collectively makes this ink a step up from normal Blue inks.

The performance of Night Time Soda is the same as all Teranishi inks I’ve tried. It’s right down the middle in wetness, flow, and dry time. Any of these inks could be your all day, every day writer.

For my writing sample, I used one of the most aggressive nibs I have. This Fine Steel Jowo #6 has a Micro-Architect grind done by Mark Bacas, aka The Nib Grinder, and it is sharp! I combined it with smooth Life Noble paper, and the ink behaved consistently the entire time. If you want to see a wider line in action, take a look at the writing sample in my Hooligan Pen Review, which featured Night Time Soda. I need to ink this back up ASAP.

Life Noble paper, left, Col-o-ring, right.

Teranishi Inks run $23 for a 40 ml bottle, which is reasonable in this current ink market. There are better values, and there are worse, so this one sits right in the middle. For the performance and color options they have, it’s about as good as it gets. The only question I have is what actually is “Night Time Soda?” The internet is no help, so maybe you can be.

(I purchased this ink at regular price from The Gentleman Stationer at the 2025 Atlanta Pen Show.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!