Taccia is a Taiwanese brand that has grown significantly over the past couple of years, releasing some very nice pens at both a moderate and luxury price point, and just this past year releasing an entire range of inks. Today’s review will take a look at two of the inks: Ebi (described as a “purple red”) and Uguisu (described as an “olive green”). I chose these particular colors because, as you all know, I’m partial to deep reds/burgundies and darker greens. Neither Taccia ink disappoints.

I’d consider Taccia “Ebi” to be a solid burgundy/maroon option, if you prefer your burgundies with a lot of purple. Comparable colors would include Montblanc Burgundy Red (the closest match in my collection) and Sailor Oku-Yama (more pink/red and less purple). Colorverse Dark Energy has a lot more black to it.

“Uguisu” is an ink that’s going to get a lot of use. I’ve had a hard time finding a true “olive green” that isn’t too yellow and/or pale. By far the closest match in my collection is Sailor Jentle Epinard, since both inks have a slight red sheen to them, but the Uguisu is a shade lighter with enough yellow to make it a pure olive. Other comparable colors include Sailor Waka Uguisu (much lighter) and Monteverde Olivine (much darker, with nib crud issues).

Writing sample on Clairefontaine French Ruled A5 notebook. The tester pen for the Ebi was a KACO Retro, and a Parker 51 for the Uguisu.

Because Japanese pen company Sailor has made nibs for Taccia in the past, it begs the question: Are these Sailor inks? No. While these inks are made in Japan, I understand they’re manufactured by another company (Nabayashi), though the range of colors Taccia chose definitely bears some similarity to the Sailor Jentle/Pilot Iroshizuku lineup. The Taccia inks also behave somewhat differently. Both Ebi and Uguisu were slightly wetter than most Sailor inks I have used, though they still worked well on most types of paper, with the exception of the super-cheap recycled copy paper that is always loaded into one of my office printers. (Side Note: does anyone else have a situation at work where one printer has the “good paper” and other has the “terrible paper”? Apparently I have a reputation for backing up the “good printer” with print jobs because I refuse to use the bad one.)

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Burgundy reds and olive greens are always two of my favorite colors, and I found both Taccia inks to be well-behaved. I’ve heard good reports about the brand in general. With Sailor upping their prices per ml by cutting bottle sizes in half, Taccia presents an attractive alternative by selling quality ink that behaves similarly at a lower price point. Vanness Pens currently stocks the entire line, and has 12 of the 13 inks in stock at $12 per 40ml bottle. I also expect that Lisa will be bringing Taccia inks to this weekend’s upcoming Atlanta Pen Show.

Many thanks to Vanness Pens for providing me with these two bottles of Taccia Ink (in exchange for helping to work the table at the Baltimore Pen Show).