When I ordered my Berlin Notebook Blue inks, I also noticed that they had a nice green, and since I was already paying for shipping, I thought that I might as well add it to my cart. I’m glad that I did. It’s a nice hunter green with moderately heavy purple sheen. This is the most expensive of the Berlin Notebook inks at €13.80 (the No.1 Blue costs €11.99) and it ships in a 30ml bottle of the common “Pelikan 4001” shape, enclosed in a plain brown box, both of which are adorned with a simple and clean “No 3” label.
I swabbed the paper on a variety of different paper types, including the Col-O-Ring, HP, Rhodia, and Tomoe River (52gsm) shown here. There was a difference in sheen, but not a dramatic difference in hue.
The ink color is fairly similar to several others that I own, but probably most similar to KWZ Discovery Green, which is an exclusive from Dromgoole’s, though it produces a much redder sheen. Diamine Holly and Monteverde California Teal are also both very similar, though slightly cooler in tone. Again, they produce redder sheen.
I did a couple of writing samples on Tomoe River 68gsm (plain) paper and on Rhodia ruled. On this paper, the ink was well behaved, with no hint of feathering or bleed through. Dry time was longer than usual, though, and on Tomoe River, I did get some smearing, even after it had been dry for a couple of hours. Flow is pretty medium. It’s not water resistant.
On Tomoe River paper or Cosmo Air Light, the ink produces a reliable amount of sheen under normal writing conditions, and of course, in large swabs.
However, on Rhodia, I didn’t get any sheen while I was writing, despite the fact that Rhodia usually does produce some sheen. Instead, where the sheen would normally appear I got a dark, almost black area of shading, which is also really wonderful. Overall, shading is moderate, though.
Overall, I like the ink. On most papers and with most nibs, it’s a perfectly behaved ink with a nice, usable color.