Monteverde Emerald Green Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

A few weeks back, I tried out my first Monteverde fountain pen ink and was pleasantly surprised. Since then, I've acquired another Monteverde ink, and while it doesn't perform as good as the previous, it's still a beautiful color and well-performing ink. Monteverde Emerald Green is a beautiful color, and I've really been enjoying using it as spring comes around.

There are several blues that easily make my top 5 lists, and I don't even need much time to decide. Greens, however, are a bit more elusive for me. I haven't settled on a list of favorites because I'm still working on finding what I like, and it doesn't help that there are an endless amount of green inks out there. It's slow work, but it's enjoyable.

Emerald Green takes its name from the emerald jewel, and it lives up to that name quite well. It's not what I would call a true emerald green, but it gets close and manages to be beautiful in the process. At the end of the day, I'm less interested in the name of the ink compared to how I like the color and ink properties.

Emerald Green is a light to medium green hue depending on how much ink is on the page. At times, you can detect more yellow and a touch of blue, giving it a pleasant teal or lime hint. Even with these other tones, it's impossible to mistake this for another color. It's absolutely green, and it's a beautiful shade.

Just like the Scotch Brown ink I reviewed, this ink has Monteverde's ITF (Ink Treatment Formula) that supposedly makes it perform at a higher level. Thinks like easy and consistent flow, resistance to drying when the cap is off, nib lubrication, and dry times. Like I said in my earlier review, I don't know (or really care) about their treatment system; whatever they're doing seems to work just fine. This is a very well-behaved ink. It flows well in the pens I've used, it doesn't have any trouble with starting or skipping, even after being uncapped and unused for a minute. It also does really well after being capped and unused for over a week — the ink usually started flowing just fine after the first stroke of a letter. Impressive.

The dry time is also a positive aspect of this ink. I found that the ink was dry on the page within 10-15 seconds in most cases. Obviously, this time increases as the nib size increases, but it manages to dry quickly in general.

Shading is great with this ink, though I wish it had just a little bit more variation. When you look at the ink after it dries, it's easy to see the shading between the fast and slow strokes of the letters and where the ink pools. But, the shading doesn't occur as effortlessly as other favorite inks. Still, it's nothing to criticize — it does a great job shading.

One thing I did notice was that the ink had significant show-through on some papers. Specifically, the untreated Baron Fig paper suffered the most, and also exhibited a good amount of feathering. But, on coated papers (Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Apica), it showed through very little and had no feathering problems. Sure, some inks perform well on every paper you throw at it, but this Monteverde still does a very good job considering. Part of using fountain pens is understanding that each pen, ink, and paper combination are unique and require a bit of learning to find what suits it best.

Overall, I've really been enjoying the Monteverde Emerald Green. It's a pretty good deal on JetPens at about $8 for a 30ml bottle. If you really love this ink, you can also purchase it in a massive 90ml bottle for just $16. If you're looking for a new green to try, consider this one!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Monteverde Yosemite Green Ink: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Monteverde USA recently introduced a whole new line of ink colors, all with their ITF (Ink Treatment Formula) technology. I chose several colors to review, the first of which is Yosemite Green.

The 30ml bottle comes in a clear, flexible plastic box that includes a card explaining the ITF technology in their ink. It states that the ink improves ink flow, extends time with the cap off, lubricates the feed system, and improves dry time.

I tested the ink in my vintage Visconti Manhattan with a medium nib. My ink tests revealed that the ink is a yellow-green with a slightly bluish tint. The ink is wet and flows quite nicely in my medium nib. The ink is not waterproof and exhibits no odor.

I honestly did not notice any difference in ink flow or lubrication with this ink as opposed to other inks I use regularly. It also seemed to have dry times comparable with other inks, such as Robert Oster. I don’t leave my caps off when I’m not writing, especially on my older pens, so I did not test the claim that the ink allows extended time with the cap off.

Chromatography shows that the ink has strong yellow, green, and blue shades in it.

The blue offsets the yellow for a rather unique shade. I compared Yosemite Green with my other green inks and none of them was a match.

The ink exhibits a gorgeous maroon sheen in ink splats.

And the same sheen and good shading comes out nicely in broad nibs. And, at least on Tomoe River Paper, I noticed some sheen even with my medium nib (not pictured).

I honestly didn’t know what to expect with Monteverde inks, but I’m impressed with Yosemite Green. It’s a really nice green with hints of blue and it works well in both narrow and wide nibs, though broader nibs bring out the shading and sheen more.

You can purchase Monteverde inks from JetPens for $8.00 (30 ml bottle).

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Monteverde Scotch Brown Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Brown inks are certainly a rich and deep well of the fountain pen ink options out there today, but I've never really done more than dip my toes in this color. Who wants to use brown ink, right? Well, it's not as bad as it sounds. I've tried a couple, and I've always been pleasantly surprised after using them. Browns can be beautiful, so don't judge them by their name.

I've always had good experiences with my Monteverde pens and gel/roller ball refills, but I've never actually tried any of their many fountain pen inks. When Brad sent over a bottle of Scotch Brown, I was excited to try it out and see how well it performed. Also, I had to see how closely it resembled they whisky color.

Upon opening the clear plastic box that the bottle is packaged in, I noticed some info printed on the back side of the color card that promoted Monteverde ITF technology. Interesting, right? Well, ITF stands for "Ink Treatment Formula," and it really just means that the ink is formulated to flow well, resist drying in the nib, and lubricating the feed. With other inks, this normally isn't advertised as a trademarked ink technology, so it struck me as a bit odd. Despite that, this ink definitely gets a good score in my "does it behave well?" system.

Scotch Brown is a medium brown ink that looks darker than most scotches I've seen. Still, it's a warm, pleasant color that looks great on the page. It's light enough that you can easily tell that you're using a brown ink. In some cases, I can even detect a hint of a green-gold sheen. If you want something more business friendly, you might want to look for a black-brown.

Given the medium hue, that provides opportunities to shade and vary depending on how ink is distributed on the page. I'm happy to report that this ink does a great job of shading from light to medium brown. In certain areas where the ink pools, it takes on a coffee or milk chocolate color, while the lighter areas remind me of rich caramel or whisky. It's a delicious color, but I can't say that I've tasted the ink.

So, how does the Ink Treatment Formula perform? Well, it behaves nicely in the pens I've tried. Ink flow is exactly what I expect, and it has no issue keeping up with fast writing. Dry time is in the unimpressive (but still good) range of about 15-20 seconds. It also does a good job of keeping the ink from drying on the nib when the pen is left uncapped for a couple of minutes. Even when it does dry, it easily starts up again after a couple of squiggles.

Show-through isn't terrible for a medium to dark color. The ink doesn't soak through the page, creating dark impressions on the back page. I've also been unable to detect any signs of feathering on the premium (Rhodia, Apica, Leuchtturm) papers I've tried with it. Overall, a solid performer.

In my book, this is a well-behaved ink, with or without the fancy technology to back it up. It easily ranks with Diamine as far as behavior goes, and that's a compliment. Once again, I'm being drawn in by a brown ink, and it's surprised me again. I'm not sure I'm predisposed against browns, but it's something I aim to cure. This Scotch Brown is a delicious color, and it's working well to change my perceptions. I'll also be delving deeper into the Monteverde line of inks. This Emerald Green is calling my name.

The pricing for Monteverde inks isn't bad, either. Monteverde Scotch Brown is available at JetPens as a 30ml bottle for $8.00, and the big brother 90ml bottle is only $16.00. For those of you following along at home, that's 3 times the ink for only twice the price. I'd recommend trying an ink before buying that much of it, though.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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