Lennon Tool Bar Taiwan Tea #2 Mesona Tea — 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample
Lennon Tool Bar Taiwan Tea #2 Mesona Tea — 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample
Details
Hue: A dark, muted brown with a dusky purple cast. Officially described as a dusty purple-brown with warm grey undertones; in my swatches it reads darker and more chocolate-brown than that, with the purple showing mainly in thinner areas and pooled ink going close to black-brown.
Shading: Subtle in writing; more pronounced light-to-dark variation where the ink pools.
Sheen: None visible in my swatches.
Shimmer: None.
Flow: Medium.
The interesting bit: Mesona (仙草, roughly “immortal herb”) is the plant behind grass jelly. In Taiwan it’s simmered for hours into a thick, dark, earthy herbal tea, drunk cold in summer and hot in winter, and known for its bittersweet balance. This is one of six inks in Lennon Tool Bar’s Taiwan Tea series. The brand was founded in Tamsui in 2014 to revive traditional Taiwanese indigo dyeing, which is where its ink-making started.
This is a hand-decanted 4ml sample vial from my own bottle.
Photos are my own swatches on Tomoe River Paper.
I’m a collector and I’m always happy to talk ink, so please message me if you have any questions.
Postage
Royal Mail or Evri, your choice at checkout, from £1.90. Free over £20. Dispatched within 2 working days. UK only for now.
Returns
Change your mind within 14 days and I'll refund you, including standard outbound postage. Return postage is yours unless something's wrong. Opened vials can only be refunded in part. Full details in my refund policy.
What you're getting
A 4ml vial, hand-decanted by me from my own bottle. Swatch photos are mine, on Tomoe River paper. Colours vary with paper, nib and screen, so treat them as a good guide rather than an exact match.