Diamine Fountain Pen Ink (80mL) - Chocolate Brown

On white paper, Chocolate Brown is redder, while on ivory- or cream-coloured paper, more orange. It is similar to P.W. Akkerman #23 Bekakt Haags, Taccia Sharaku-Kurocha and Sailor Kobe #52 Shioya Vintage Sepia. It is redder than Diamine Bach from the Music collection, which is more orange.

Chocolate Brown played well with all my pens and paper combos I used, and didn’t feel thin under the nibs: I’ve experienced no skipping, no hard starts, no nib dryout, no feathering and no bleedthrough; just some medium ghosting in the usual thinner papers. Readable in all nib sizes, it’s good for taking notes; a word of caution, it dries slowly on non-absorbent paper (TR, Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Maruman). It is easy to clean from converters.

Because it’s a highly saturated ink, shading is elusive in wetter pens; but regardless of nib widths and flow setting of the pens, Chocolate Brown’s red undertone still makes an appearance during normal writing! There is some black sheen, and a dark outline on the edge of where the ink pools in heavily saturated areas can be seen. This ink has an average, but wet, flow: with some pens, it’s difficult to obtain crisp, contained lines.

As well-behaved as it is, I prefer redder browns still, like Diamine Rustic Brown and Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukushi, Visconti Sepia and Waterman Absolute (Havana) Brown.

Beautiful dark brown that dries moderately quickly and flows well. It looks fairly good on ivory paper - a nice change from the common black and blues.

I have the Chocolate Brown presently in a Pelikan M800 Tortoise with a fine nib. It dries to a dark brown reminiscent of 90% dark chocolate.

The colour is a bit too dark for my current taste in brown tones but it is personal preference and does not detract from the quality of the ink any way.

It flows generously so if you like a wet line in a dark brown, this ink should be perfectly fine for you.

I'm using this ink in my Pelikan M800 and it looks great, flows well, is easy to clean, and dries fairly quickly even on Rhodia paper. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good brown.

As always, Jon and Liz package the inks very securely with bubble wrap and leave a hand written note in their packages. It shows they truly care, and I appreciate it. Thanks guys!