This week’s ink review and giveaway features a tried and true fountain pen ink, Kaweco Caramel Brown. Caramel Brown is not a new color, and Kaweco is not a new ink brand. You might say this week’s ink is one that can stand the test of time. Read the full review, then take a minute to enter to win the bottle of Kaweco Caramel Brown ink used for this week’s review.

All About the Ink Maker: Kaweco

Kaweco is a historical pen company from Germany; they’ve been around for several decades. They have a reputation in the industry for creating functional, budget-friendly, and unique fine writing instruments. Most well-known for their compact, distinctive, yet functional Al-Sport and Classic Sport fountain pens initially used by military officers during World War II, Kaweco also produces fountain pen inks in some basic colors, such as: red, purple, royal blue, black, green, orange, blue-black, and caramel brown. At the moment, Pen Chalet has four of Kaweco’s basic ink colors in stock:

• Kaweco Black fountain pen ink, 30 ml
• Kaweco Blue-Black fountain pen ink, 30 ml
• Kaweco Royal Blue fountain pen ink, 30 ml
• Kaweco Sepia Brown fountain pen ink, 30 ml

This week’s featured ink is Kaweco’s Caramel Brown ink. To learn more about the different Kaweco inks currently available at Pen Chalet or to see what else Kaweco has to offer, visit PenChalet.com.

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Kaweco Caramel Brown

Kaweco Caramel Brown fountain pen ink is a soft, dark brown color that shows up brown (not black) on paper and is a lovely, everyday ink color.

** Don’t stop now. Keep reading to get all the test results for Kaweco Caramel Brown. Plus, you’ll want to take advantage of your chance to win the bottle of Kaweco Caramel Brown fountain pen ink used for this week’s Pen Chalet Ink Review. If you don’t have the time to get into it right now, but you want to enter to win before you miss your chance, you can scroll to the bottom to find the link to “enter to win.” As long as you don’t forget to come back later to read the full review, we’ll forgive you for scrolling past vital info.

It’s Time: Kaweco Caramel Brown Ink Review

As we already said, Kaweco Caramel Brown fountain pen ink isn’t a new addition, and we’ve had some experience with it in the past. Still, it was interesting to put it through the review tests and see how it performed compared to other inks we recently reviewed. Keep reading, and we’ll share all the details.

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

Each week we list the products we used during our ink review here. During this week’s review, we used a French-made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen (with a tip comparable to a fine-medium fountain pen nib) on Rhodia dot pad paper. Remember, different papers and nib sizes may produce different results!

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Kaweco Use?

Kaweco ink comes in a standard, one size Kaweco 30 ml. glass ink bottle. The Kaweco bottle is functional and can be set down on its side to gather the last few drops of fountain pen ink. The simple packaging shows the ink color clearly in print and in the color of the label.

How Much Does Kaweco Ink Cost?

Kaweco inks are mid-ranged priced inks for the 30 ml. size. Look for discounted pricing at Pen Chalet.

How Did Caramel Brown Ink Handle the 1 Dip Test?

We used the 1 Dip Test to see how far Kaweco Caramel Brown fountain pen ink could write on paper with just one dip in the ink. We included three writing samples: S, X, and scribble lines (shown in the review photo). As the name of the test implies, we only used one dip per writing sample. Kaweco Caramel Brown was able to write across the paper on all three writing samples, but the color got lighter as we went along and was about to run out when finishing the line. There wasn’t much ink to spare.

How Fast Does Caramel Brown Ink Dry?

Kaweco Caramel Brown fountain pen ink had a dry time of approximately 7-8 seconds with light to medium saturation, quick enough to be considered an everyday ink color. (We generally assign an ink “everyday” status if the dry time falls under 10 seconds).

Does Kaweco Caramel Brown Ink Bleed Through?

During normal use of Caramel Brown fountain pen ink, we saw zero bleed through. We also saw zero bleed through during the heavy saturated cotton swab test.

Was There Any Feathering While Using Caramel Brown Ink?

During normal use on Rhodia paper, we saw no feathering. We noticed some slight additional feathering during the water test.

How Does Caramel Brown Ink Stand Up to Water?

This week’s ink is not a waterproof fountain pen ink. However, we always include a water test in the review. (For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample). After putting Caramel Brown ink to the water test, we saw significant color smearing, but this is very reasonable for dark brown ink colors. The lines were still legible, but we did see some additional distortion and some very slight feathering following our standard water test.

Does Caramel Brown Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

Caramel Brown fountain pen ink has quite a bit of shading possibility depending on penmanship, the type of fountain pen nib, and your writing style. You may see dark brown-black to a light caramel shade of brown as well as a few shades in between.

Final Conclusion on Kaweco Caramel Brown Ink:

Caramel Brown is a classic, everyday ink from a historic and well respected German pen company, Kaweco. The subtle, everyday brown color is appropriate for almost any project in the home or office and is available at a mid-range price in a smaller, 30 ml bottle. Caramel Brown ink has a reasonable dry time of 7-8 seconds and shows up dark on paper (while offering a definite brown rather than veering towards a brown so dark that it appears black). Happy writing from Germany!

Enter to Win Kaweco Caramel Brown Ink:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Caramel Brown fountain pen ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:

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