Tea and coffee themed fountain pen inks are some of my favourites. The associations of tea and coffee with both literary production and breaks from work, with private conversation and solitary reflection, with leisurely breakfasts and fervent late night study sessions, with rainy cafés and road-trip picnics, with conscious ritual and daily routine, with well-being, mental restoration, inspired flow… all seem to lend themselves to the experience of the pleasure of writing.
I wanted to share my collection with you in the hopes that it might inspire you to pick up your pen, and your cup.
The swatch cards I used are by Dominant Industry, and I wrote the ink names using the Wearingeul modular glass dip pen.
☞ If you enjoy tea and coffee and want to further your artistic explorations, I recommend Liz Steel’s online course on Watercolour Teacups.
Diamine Espresso
Perfect for: late night essay notes
Diamine Espresso is my go-to alternative to black ink. It’s just light enough to show that it’s a brown, and although it isn’t very interesting in the sense that it doesn’t shade or sheen, I love its cool tone and of course, its name.
I often use Diamine Espresso for article notes in my writing journal, like these on the Quest World
Esterbrook x TheCoffeeMonsterzCo
Forgotten Iced Coffee
Perfect for: rainy day café sketches
Looks alarmingly green when wet but dries to a subtly-shading beige. I love this ink in a TWSBI with a stub nib!
Esterbrook x TheCoffeeMonsterzCo – Forgotten Iced Coffee with a TWSBI 1.1mm stub
FWP Steeped Umber
Perfect for: dwelling upon deep, rich, and satisfying thoughts
This may be the richest and most delicious brown ink I own. It’s a deep, reddish brown with gorgeous shading, very much the colour I enjoy my tea.
J. Herbin Lie de Thé
Perfect for: writing your 19th century ephemera
This was the first brown ink I fell in love with. I think it looks especially good on tea or coffee-stained paper.
J. Herbin Lie de Thé on tea-dyed paper (a photo from 10 years ago!)
J. Herbin Café des Îles
Perfect for: scripting your island escapade
A lovely ink that I’ve sadly neglected. It’s a very similar colour to Steeped Umber but a bit lighter and therefore less prone to bleedthrough.
KWZ Smells Like Coffee
Perfect for: early morning journalling sessions
This is a scented ink that really does smell like coffee! It has a rather sweet, creamy scent, and I loove smelling this ink when I uncap my pen.
KWZ Smells Like Coffee is a warm, slightly yellowish brown that shades nicely (though it’s a bit difficult to tell with a wet TWSBI stub). It’s less yellow than KWZ Cappuccino.
KWZ Smells Like Coffee with a TWSBI stub. This sketchbook really doesn’t take wet media well…This ink was so kindly gifted me by Markabana.
☞ I only have one other scented ink in my collection at the moment — De Atramentis Bookworm, which smells like old books.
KWZ Cappuccino
Perfect for: monkish habit tracking
KWZ Cappuccino is very similar to several other inks in my collection, but what the uninitiated may not realise is that the associations that the ink name conjures up are as important as the colour of the ink itself.
As such, all these inks have a welcome place in my ink drawer, though they’re all bronzy, yellowish browns: KWZ Cappuccino, KWZ Smells Like Coffee, KWZ Honey, Montblanc Robert Louis Stevenson.
Writing Invitation
Take up your fountain pen and write out a playlist with all the tea and coffee related songs you can recall.
Tomoe River paper☞ I will update this post if I acquire any new tea & coffee-themed inks!
