BlueBlack x Diamine - Ice Americano
This is 아이스 아메리카노 (Ice Americano). It’s the ninth ink in the Seoul City set from BlueBlack Pen Shop in Seoul, and Diamine Inks. Believe it or not, coffee is arguably the most popular drink in South Korea. They have a vibrant, booming coffeeshop culture, and ice americanos are one of the most popular choices. That makes Ice Americano very appropriate in a set of Seoul-themed inks!
Ice Americano is a rich and inviting dark chocolate, coffee brown. On some uncoated papers, it lightens a bit and becomes more of a chestnut brown. It isn’t a strong shading ink, but there is slight variation with some nib and paper combinations. This is a very attractive brown that will please fans of the popular inks in the color category.
This is a very well-behaved ink, too. In flow, it had the same luxurious consistency as the previous two or three inks in the set. It’s very smooth on the page. On all of my usual test papers, strokes were clean, sharp, and feather-free. Drying was consistent with the others in the Seoul City set, as well. It’s a bit longer than average on coated papers, but not a problem. On uncoated papers, drying is very fast. This is an enjoyable writing ink.
The Seoul City set (as well as sets for London and New York) are exclusively available at BlueBlack Pen Shop in Seoul and on their website. I definitely recommend the set, but BlueBlack has a number of interesting exclusives and hard-to-find brands that are worth investigating. You’ll find many on the English website, but the Korean website offers even more. If needed, let google translate the site and enjoy a look around!
Keep scrolling down for the ink swatch card, ink comparisons, the bottle, and the entire set.