(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.
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.)
