J. Herbin Café Des Îles • Fountain Pen Ink Test

[@thorhilda]

No need to apologize. Your pronunciation of "café des îles" is perfect. The regular Herbin collection-under the brand name J. Herbin, not the more luxurious collections, with the first name Jacques fully spelled out-is a source of frustration for me. These inks are easy to find locally, and the color palette is unique. However, all those I've tried so far are not well lubricated, they transform good writers into dry ones. In sample vial, I often add a touch of surfactant in the form of a tiny drop of clear liquid soap to improve their flow. The beautiful but impractical low bottle makes it difficult to fill most pens. Thank you for the review.

[@JG3Reviews]

Thanks! I was sure I'd butchered it. And I may go the dish soap route in some pens, too. I've done that with another ink, but it didn't cross my mind with this one.

[@ilikepens]

I used a few drops of vanness white lightning ink additive in my bottle of this ink and now it flows nice and wet.

[@JG3Reviews]

Good to know, thanks!

[@davideselmin8018]

Finally a well filmed review......my compliments !

[@MujahidJazz]

Oh thank you very much. This ink was an enigma to me. I wasn't very convinced by the reviews prior to yours. Several times I had it in the shopping cart and then discarded it. I like dry inks, especially in fountain pens that are problematic for me, that is, very wet ones. I always look for a discreet line variation and/or obvious shading.

[@aprils.]

I, too, love my coffee even more than my fountain pens! My absolute favorite coffees almost always come from Ethiopia, but today I’m brewing a locally roasted auction lot from Rwanda. It’s really something special!

[@JG3Reviews]

Nice! ☕️

[@storge306]

Another wonderful review. Thank you! Very much appreciated indeed. My favourite coffee origin by far is Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (and dare I say that I prefer a slightly darker yirg, than most roasteries will offer so roasting your own is optimal).

[@JG3Reviews]

I haven't ventured into roasting my own, yet. Yet. I've gone back and forth over the years on the darkness of my coffee, trending darker again lately.

[@crouserm]

Well, since you ask, a Sumatran dark roast! Wait -- Costa Rican peaberry, dark! Wait, wait! Well, you get it. Nice review, James. In my lean years of fountain pen use, I had a bottle of Waterman Havana which slowly evaporated wonderfully to darken and dry the ink over a decade or so. My current brown is Stipula Calamo Sepia. Wet. Great in a EF - F nibs. I haven't noticed a lot of shading, but that could be the papers I use. Well saturated. Thanks, as always, and God preserve you in this furnace of a late summer.

[@perfectplume]

Nothing like freshly ground home brewed coffee ☕️ , I like this ink and Vert Olive by the same brand is excellent also. There’s quite a lot to like about this ink. Nice review and cheers to your thoughtful wife and daughters.

[@JG3Reviews]

Agreed!

[@oldladywithacamera]

Thanks for this. Like the Herbin inks and am always curious about browns. Doesn't look like one I'll be seeking. Thanks also for your attention to pronunciation. Shallow as I am, this can make/break whether I subscribe to somebody's channel. Thanks again.

[@asexualatheist3504]

Thanks for the review. I, too, like coffee. Currently I use Colorverse coffee joy in the ordinary series. I’ll check out the ink you reviewed.

[@JG3Reviews]

I had to look that ink up...very nice!

[@penguin1780]

Sounds good for Pelikans. I haven’t tried this one yet, but I really like Lie de Thê, Eclat de Saphir, and Vert Empire in this line. I trust this ink line in all of my vintage pens.

[@paulherman5822]

I think brown inks are my favourites. Most I've used have been great (except for 1950s Sheaffer's Skrip brown. Looks like the results of the first time a little kid eats spinach. In the diaper...) And brown tends to be generally well behaved. Dries quickly, limited issues you may have with other ones. And I don't think I've had any that didn't shade. Ink crustaceans. Yep. Pretty common with the browns in my experience. Though even the perforated caps on a vintage Esterbrook, I've not had dry out problems. Is there a brown that is water resistant? 😁 And as for the bottle. I'm always going to sing the praises of the vintage Sheaffer's Skrip inkwell bottle. And coffee. I've used the number one brand in Europe for years. Lavazza. It's a medium roast blend, mostly Brazilian. Just gives me the taste I want. From a moka pot. 😉 Thanks for the great review of an ink I'd not used yet!

[@michaelh.gerloff3659]

Thank you for that test, James. I have this ink, too, but I never kept an eye on the fast drying. So I tried it out with one of my (steel) nib pens and voilà: no feathering! (What I see very often with other inks). So that bottle of ink will stay on my desk 😃 When it comes to emptying bottles I use a syringe filling empty cartridges or converters. And I like my coffee with beans from Uganda and/or Ethiopia, giving a slight sweet aroma.

[@JG3Reviews]

Ethiopia produces some wonderful coffee!

[@PalehorseThirteen]

Man, I can relate a lot to this video. Cafe Des Iles was the second ink bottle I ever bought. I too bought it largely due to my love of coffee. AND I also found the color nice, but a tad dry for my taste. I've even gotten the best out of it from a Jinhao 992! It has been sitting untouched for a while. I've since found other brown inks I enjoy more, like Platinum Sepia Black, Papier Plume Cafe Diabolique, and Kaweco Caramel Brown. Now, as for the coffee question, I really enjoy Samatra blends, but probably my favorite is Italian dark roasts.

[@kelisefranclemont8560]

Thanks for this review with great info. Very useful. Love this ink, use a lot for drawing usually with a glass dip pen and wanted to try with a fountain pen and so glad I found your vid so I could check if Herbin would actually work. Re: filling fountain pens, I use a basic medical syringe to refill the cartridges ;) so the fact I can’t tip it etc is no problem…

[@craft-o-matic399]

Hello, Café des Îles means Coffee of the Islands in English, and in French, phonetically, it is pronounced : Café dayz eel Connect the "Z" to the beginning of the next word. I love Herbin inks! Thank you so much for this in-depth review! Lisa

[@RJayRoberts]

I do like that ink. Haven't had any issues with it that I can recall. Island coffee indeed! I get mine from Hawaii.

[@TheNightowl001]

My coffee is Folger's Crystals. I did work for Denny's Restaurants for many years in my youth and I do like Kona coffee, but I don't like the premium prices they charge for it nowadays, and I don't like messing with drip makers, or percolators, or Keurigs, or any of that. Hot water, Folger's Crystals, a little sugar, and I'm good to go every time. I like that ink. I may have to add it to my wish list. I just got a bottle of Diamine Saddle Brown. I thought their Chocolate Brown was just too dark. I was disappointed in the color when I got a bottle of Jinhao Coffee ink a while back. It's more of a reddish brown, and doesn't look anything like what I think a coffee colored ink should look like. I have a sample of Colorverse Coffee Break that's pretty decent too. I haven't decided whether to get a full bottle or not.

[@JG3Reviews]

That takes me back. When I was a young ministry student in NY, I used to give an elderly woman a ride now and then to her doctor's appointment. I swear she could get the ratio just right to where you honestly couldn't tell it instant in the least. 👍

[@littleowl7007]

Thank you for this review! My favorite coffee is from a local coffee roaster. Its a intense mix of arabica beans from Brasil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India. Perfect for Espresso. But for a good Colombian I am always available. ☕🙂 Have a good day

[@slowfootlabeef704]

Very interesting review! It's hard to find a good Brown ink so I really appreciated it seeing what this one will do. However, I am so jealous that you have a bookstore with fountain pens and fine stationary! i'm a hands is great, but you know… I prefer diamine chocolate because it is a bluish brown and not the usual reddish brown, so yes more 🍫. ANd, Columbian, strong roasted Colombian from a French press😊

[@belphegor_dev]

Jacques Herbin Terre d'ombre is a similar color but much more well behaved.

[@iansmith3877]

Great review as always! My daily coffee is coffee and chicory from New Orleans (grew up near the city). The beans are Arabica from Columbia I’m sure lol. No clue where the chicory os sourced.

[@JG3Reviews]

Nice. I've never made it to New Orleans, but I'd go for the coffee and beignets alone. lol

[@iansmith3877]

@@JG3Reviews If you ever make it this way let me know, I’ll be more then happy to put you on the best food spots, not just cafe’ Au lait and beignets lol! Also, Papier Plume’ is a local stationary store with some excellent inks, and they’re around the corner from my favorite spot for French pastries and coffee!

[@impish22]

I love brown inks thanks for sharing

[@yuklimka7251]

I used this ink in a Sailor F1 demonstrator (a slim pen with a steel nib with a heart-shaped breather hole) and really enjoyed it. Some colors of the standard lineup just don't work for me, e.g. Diabolo Menthe which I find entirely too pale to be legible. I have a Pelikan M800 EF that is too juicy to write with without smudging for me as a lefty. I'm always on the lookout for dry inks beyond the 4001 series.

[@chadmiky88]

I've long been a fan of Nicaragua.

[@jacobus57]

Fun review! I used to be a professional bicycle mechanic, and one of our running shop jokes was, "All the engineers in hell are from France!" (Remember Huret derailleurs 😬?) So you evocation of Citreön and Renault made me chuckle.

[@basta.dotto_]

Thank you for the review! I'll give it a try in a pen that has too generous a flow, hoping it will slim the line somewhat. As far as coffee is concerned, if I could only pick one, it would be Jamaican Blue Mountain, grade 1, using a French Press, or in a Moka when I want a cappuccino ☕☕. Always unsweetened! ETA: I wonder how Café des Îles compares to Terre de Feu in terms of dryness and redness 🤔

[@JG3Reviews]

JBM in a Moka pot is good by me!

[@ReticentSparrow]

Have you considered moving your Herbin ink to another inkwell? I have a small 50 ml Ole Smoky Moonshine bottle I'm thinking about re-purposing into a makeshift inkwell. I don't figure you drink, but if you can get your hands on an empty one, it might be worth testing out.

[@paulmchugh1430]

Being left handed i have always been on the hunt for fast drying inks. Then I bought a Jinhao 9019 and a Wing Sung 630. In both pens the ink dried out on the nib and feed if i left them uncapped for more than a minute. I used Private Reserve American Blue in the 9019 and Diamine Regency Blue in the 630. I never had this happen woth any other pens. I switched to Iroshizuku asa-gao and the problem went away and I didn't smear the ink with my hand. So, now it looks like i will have to make a note what inks will not work with these pens. Could it be that the size of the nib and feed on these pens cause the dry out? If so i will have to look for well behaved inks to use with them. Nice bottle but not very practical. The Private Reserve bottles have very wide openings but when you get to the bottom, it becomes difficult to get the ink out you can't tip the bottle either. Iroshizuku, and Waterman bottles are better suited. The color is a bit too light for me. I like a dark brown. The Private Reserve Chocolat is the one I would recommend. As for coffee, it is usually Folgers. What beans are used i haven't a clue. I will say that the best coffee I had was at a Turkish restaurant. It was robust, thick as syrup but the smoothest coffee I had ever drank. No milk, no sugar, just straight up black. It was so good I had 3 demitasse cups. Great review, James.

[@JG3Reviews]

Private Reserve Chocolat is in my rotation, too. It's a very nice ink, and their bottles are at the other end of the spectrum. I just won some Turkish coffee and the small pot in a family reunion auction, so you've given me something to look forward to when I try it!

[@alexhackmann]

Hi! How come do you have a Brazilian notebook? I mean, I also do, but I am Brazilian, hahaha. Nice vid. Thank you!

[@JG3Reviews]

Thanks! Some of our office supply and school supply stores are stocking notebooks from Brazil now.

[@alexhackmann]

Wow! @@JG3Reviews Well, I am still searching for a good paper here in Brazil, that does not cost a kidney or something, hahahah

[@MrBestBeatlesFan1]

Lot, who said after his wife was turned into a pillar of salt: "Salt we got plenty, coffee we need!" Red Buttons

[@JG3Reviews]

🤣☕

[@philnaunton7181]

I have to ask, is it caffeinated or de-caffeinated. 😪

[@JG3Reviews]

Mine's caffeinated, but I won't judge as long as it isn't iced. I like it hot no matter the weather.

[@craft-o-matic399]

Belgian coffee.

[@7_v610]

That ink has been a huge disappointment for me; regardless how much time you give it to dry, it will essentially NEVER be smudge free!!! It will smear almost all the times you touch it with your hand!

[@stevekail4543]

Ewwwww - coffee is the world's most vile beverage! 🤮 Yes, I know I'm probably in a small minority that thinks so. Your ink review really surprised me. I've only tried two J Herbin inks (not this color) and they were so wet as to be almost unusable. I tried them in a couple of western fine nibs and they wrote like double broads since the ink was just gushing through! I hope in the future you try a different color in this brand and see what results you get. Best wishes from this non-coffee drinker. 🙂

[@vito3510]

Sir you have some massive steel ballers .