J Herbin Café des îles

**Yazeh** · September 4th, 2024, 02:39 PM

J Herbin Café des îles

According to the Herbin website:
"Café des îles (Island coffee): a light brown color reminder of the great coffee smell enjoyed at the terrace of a café in a far away island."

You be the judge

This is a dryish, Ovaltine colored, reddish brown, which shines on Japanese paper, mostly with Iroful and 68 gr Tomoe River Paper. It doesn’t remind me of coffee. One can say, it's a lighter version of Private Reserve Vampire Red, but easier to clean. Surprisingly long dry time on Rhodia, so not suitable for lefty overwriters

It's not a good candidate for copy paper, it ghosted and bled through Hammermill and I didn't bother scanning it.

Chroma:
Chroma- Café des Iles.jpeg

Writing Samples:
I've added Iroful paper to the lineup. For a lot of inks, it can bring out extreme shading and enhance colours. Note this paper is very sensitive to hand oils as you can see in the Stub and flex lines. The coating has been removed and the ink doesn't adhere to the paper.

Rhodia- CafedesIles.jpg Midori-CafedesIles.jpeg TR68gr-CafedesIles.jpeg Iroful - CafedesIles.jpg
Photo:
CafedesIles-photo.jpg
Comparison:
Comparison-Vampire Red.jpg
Water test:
Left side 10 seconds under running water. Paper is Mnemosyne
Watertest-Herbin Café.jpeg
Art Work:
Café and Ovaltine - What happens if you order a Café des îles coffee in a Parisian café. They'll serve you Ovaltine

Paper is a Talens Mixed media pocket book. I used different dilutions of Café des îles. At the bottom it is most concentrated. I used a glass nib tipped in bleach to create the "foamy" part on the top.
Noodler's Lexington Gray / Polar Green
Rohrer and Klingner Königsblau & Helianthus with bleach

· Pens used: Lamy (Reverse EF/F/M/B, BB), Osmiroid Copperplate nib.
· What I liked: Name.
· What I did not like: Color doesn’t remind me of coffee. It's a bit reddish pale for my taste.
· What some might not like: Dryish ink, It isn’t black coffee.

· Shading: Very nice on Japanese Paper, especially Iroful
· Ghosting: Yes, on cheap paper.
· Bleed through: Yes, on cheap paper.
· Flow Rate: Wet
· Lubrication: A bit dry
· Nib Dry-out: Did not notice.
· Start-up: Ok
· Saturation: Pastel
· Shading Potential: Great on Japanse Paper.
· Sheen: No.
· Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line: Did not notice.
· Nib Creep / “Crud”: Did not notice.
· Staining (pen): No.
· Clogging: Did not notice.
· Cleaning: Easy
· Water resistance: decent.
· Availability: 10 ml, 30 ml bottles and I believe cartridges.

Please don't hesitate to share your experience, writing samples or any other comments. The more the merrier

**LizEF** · September 4th, 2024, 02:59 PM

Thanks, Yazeh, for another fun review!!

This ink makes a really good demonstration of how paper and nib size can impact the perceived color - the wider nibs seem to show more red, and Iroful seems to suppress the red. Personally I prefer the browner rendering of this ink.

But on to more important things...

Swatch kitties are looking wonderful. The swatch kitty for this ink has made me realize that I would not want to encounter either of my kitties while they were caffeinated!

Love the talented and agile mousey, pouring coffee as he floats down!

I'm sure kitty is most impressed.

And kitty hiding behind his Ovaltine / coffee / froth is wonderful! I predict the froth won't last long.

Always enjoy your reviews!

**Yazeh** · September 4th, 2024, 03:13 PM