One of the things that I love about Sailor inks, aside from their excellent quality and overall versatility, is the range of offbeat colors that Sailor offers. An ink that I picked up last year but only just now got around to reviewing is Rikyu-Cha, a unique green-brown that definitely appears more olive green in the bottle/pen but dries to a brownish shade on the page.
You can see how green this ink looks when wet. Check out the gallery below, as I've tried to document the color shift from green to brown as the ink dries.
Like all Sailor inks, I've experienced no issues with bleedthrough or feathering. This ink also dries incredibly fast, which combined with it's darker color makes it a good choice for me to use at work. I've had this loaded into a Wing-Sung 618 demonstrator for most of the past two weeks, and have enjoyed the pen/ink combination.
Robert Oster Signature Melon Tea dries quite a bit darker. You can see the green (and even a bit bluish) undertones to the Rikyu-Cha from where I dripped coffee on the swab. Intentionally, I promise.
For comparison purposes, the closest ink in my own collection color-wise is probably Robert Oster Melon Tea, though the Rikyu-Cha definitely falls more on the reddish-brown end of the spectrum, and even has a bit of sheen to it.
Takeaways and Where to Buy
I like this ink, which will definitely stay in the rotation for the foreseeable future. If Rikyu-Cha interests you, our sponsor Pen Chalet stocks the full range of Sailor Inks, and periodically has them on sale. Now that Sailor has reissued certain previously discontinued colors (such as personal favorites Apricot and Epinard), there are 25+ different colors available in the regular line. While the prices have increased in the past few years, Sailor inks still represent excellent value at $18 MSRP.
You can also out some of my previous reviews of other Sailor inks, including: Apricot (a bright orange); Souten (a sky blue); Yama-Dori (a dark teal); Doyou (a dark brown); Epinard (a dark green); Shigure (a dark purple); Miruai (Sea Green); and Nioi-Sumire (a violet blue). Of course, this doesn't include the seemingly endless array of store-brand inks that Sailor makes for Japanese retailers Bungubox and Kobe Nagasawa. I have reviews of these elsewhere on the site, but there are too many to list them all here!
Disclaimer: I purchased the ink featured in this review with my own funds, for my own use, though I did receive a slight discount. This post contains affiliate links.