review: monteverde mandarin orange

Back to your regularly scheduled reviews!

Monteverde is not a new brand to me, though it's one that I've been dipping my toes into rather than taking the plunge. I like their simple glass bottles. They're nothing too interesting, but they're a nice shape for filling from with a large mouth at the top.

Monteverde Mandarin Orange is pretty much orange.

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Monteverde Mandarin Orange performs quite well on this Kokuyo MIO paper. It has almost no water resistance, but it dries quite quickly in just after fifteen seconds.

My TWSBI Diamond 580 AL's broad nib is not very broad, but there isn't much shading here in either nib size.

Monteverde Mandarin Orange has a hint of shading on Tomoe River paper, but it also has a very slight silver sheen—you can catch a hint of it in the "i" in "amidst.")

I compare it to some other oranges I have here. Graf von Faber-Castell Burned Orange is close, but not quite as saturated. Nagasawa Kobe Arima Amber and TAG Kyo-Iro Moonlight of Higashiyama are both less saturated and more brown. De Atramentis Salmon is lighter. Diamine 150th Anniversary Blood Orange is more red.

I have this in my TWSBI Diamond 580 AL and it was a nice pair. Good flow, no issues. I didn't see any problems with the ink turning into particles or crud on my nib, as inks with red dyes are wont to do.

Unfortunately, considering the fact that I just had to sniff more bottles for a rotten smell last week, I'm not sure if Monteverde has fixed their problems with contaminated ink. It's possible that we got back stock, but it seems strange not to check the bottles if they were already made.

Where to buy

I received a sample of this ink for free as an employee of JetPens.

• The Goulet Pen Company: bottle / sample
• JetPens: bottle
• Pen Chalet: bottle