Taccia Cha
Ink Review #26
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
Overview
The color/properties:
In most conditions, Taccia Cha is a mostly solid color that offers a soft gradient between light and deep brown. It’s not a lot of shading, but I think it provides a level of richness to the color that makes it stand out on the page.
I don’t expect that there would be many different results in other conditions, but it’s possible that you can get more aggressive shading out of a wetter pen. Some conditions may produce black edging around the letters, and a drier pen may produce a lighter, milkier brown.
Ink Splat
Droplets
Performance on paper:
Taccia Cha is well-behaved. I didn’t notice any bleed-through or feathering on any of the test papers. The dry times were mostly average, but the fine nib took noticeably longer than usual to dry. I also found that the larger nibs tended to extend just a hair past the 20-second mark.
There’s a small amount of water resistance, but most of the color washes away and creates a harsh cloud that makes the remains very difficult to read.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Taccia Cha performed well in all my test nibs. There was a consistent medium flow that provided ample lubrication and a comfortable writing experience. During my tests, I didn’t run into any hard starts, skips, or stops and I would say that Taccia Cha should perform well in most pens.
Cleaning was easy and the water ran clear with a routine flush.
Value/cost per ml:
As of writing, Taccia Cha sells for $15 for a 40ml bottle from most US retailers, making it roughly $0.32 cents per ml.
The bottle/packaging:
Taccua Cha comes in the standard Taccia bottle. The design is simple but elegant and reasonably functional. The glass presents the ink inside with excellent clarity, and the cap is large and easy to remove. The opening is large enough to get just about any pen into it for filling. When the level gets low enough, it should be easy enough to fill from a pipette or syringe. The Bottle is wide, so it feels stable, but for some reason — and I really can’t put my finger on it — whenever I open the bottle, I feel like any wrong movement will cause the ink to spill everywhere. I suspect that it’s because it has a wide opening, but also a relatively short neck.
Score: 60.5/70
Price per ml: 7/10
Performance in a pen: 10/10
Performance on paper: 10/10
Color saturation: 5/10
Sheening: 0/10
Shading: 4/10
Dry time: 7/10
Water resistance: 2/10
Ease of cleaning: 10/10
Bottle form: 3/5
Bottle function: 2.5/5
*Only 70 of the 100 available points are required for an outstanding score.My personal thoughts...
As the packaging would suggest, Cha is a word for Tea, and I think that Taccia Cha generally fits that description. Granted, it did take a lot of consideration before I came to that conclusion. It almost resembles tea. There’s a rich creaminess to the color that makes it look almost like tea with added milk. With that said I personally find that the color is too dark, and lacking in a certain depth to truly resemble what they were trying to achieve. I find it to be more of a loose approximation of a dark tea color. Tea does, of course, come in many different colors, but I just can’t help but feel that this isn’t it. Aside from my minor tie-ups with the name, I still think it’s functionally an excellent brown that doesn’t carry a high price and performs well. It’s worth considering if you enjoy brown inks (or tea).
Written in a Profolio Oasis notebook with a Lamy Safari (medium)
More images/info:
Tools and materials used in the writing samples:
A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.
A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad
A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook
A 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook