review: monteverde california teal

Here's a brand I'm pretty new to: Monteverde!

I received my sample from JetPens—working at a stationery shop does have its perks, folks.

If you know me at all, you know that I'm a big fan of (ice) hockey: I played in college, and being born and raised in San Jose I could be nothing other than a Sharks fan. Teal is their team color so it only makes sense that I was drawn to California Teal!

Monteverde inks come in either 30 ml or 90 ml glass bottles. The smaller bottles are square-ish in shape with a big opening, great for filling larger pens—and also very utilitarian. The 90 ml bottles are circular and faceted.

According to Monteverde, these inks have ITF—Ink Treatment Formula—added. I imagine this is just a lubricating agent: their website advertises improvements to ink flow, cap-off time, and drying times (and, funnily enough, supposedly the labels are also part of the ITF).

Monteverde California Teal is a dark green color with a slight blue tint.

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This ink had a little bit of water resistance. You will definitely lose most of your writing, though.

California Teal dried surprisingly quickly, with it being dry to the touch on Kokuyo Mio paper at the 15 second mark.

There's a little bit of shading in the fine nib, but it really comes out in broader nibs. It goes from a very bright green to a deeper one.

There's red-pink sheen on Tomoe River paper. It looks great here.

I compare it to some other teals I own, and you can see pretty clearly that it's much more green. Sailor Jentle Tokiwa-matsu is a pine green, while Nagasawa Kobe Aotani Cascade Green and SKB Shilu are much more emerald in color. Robert Oster Signature River of Fire is getting closer, but its not as vibrant. Colorverse Pale Blue Dot is too blue.

I had this ink in my Live In You Shiyou with a Nemosine broad nib. It's a fun combination, all things considered—it's nice to know that the Shiyou has a decent level of customizability. I'm still seeing some of the problem of the feed drying out if I leave the pen alone too long, but a little priming gets it going quickly. Monteverde California Teal had excellent flow in this pen (although the juicy Nemosine nib and feed definitely helped!).

Monteverde had an issue with ink contamination last month. You'd open the bottle and get hit with a pretty gnarly over-boiled egg smell. I would know this, because I spent about 45 minutes sniffing inks at work to check. Don't say we don't work hard at JetPens for you. Anyway, Monteverde has apologized for the problem and the issue shouldn't still be occurring now.

I quite like the color of this ink. Unfortunately, it's shy of what I would consider the "perfect" California Teal. A little more blue and I don't think I would have a pen without this ink. Regardless, it performs well and has great characteristics, so I don't have any issues recommending it!

Where to buy

I received this sample for free as an employee at JetPens.

• The Goulet Pen Company: bottle (90 ml) / sample
• JetPens: bottle (30 ml)
• Pen Chalet: bottle (30 ml, 90 ml)