From the doormen (or “green men”) to the window awnings, and the iconic shopping bags, dark green has long been associated with Harrods department store in London. With inks inks from Diamine, BlueBlack’s ten-ink City of London set includes one green, but it couldn’t be more appropriate.

Harrods Green is a beautiful, dark green. It’s cool in tone overall, but it warms up on some papers. On coated papers, it’s a cooler, forest green with more grey than yellow undertones. On uncoated papers, the yellow undertones are more prominent giving it a more vegetal, dark green base that matches the greens of Harrods perfectly.

There’s a nice darkened stroke edge on coated papers, and this really makes the ink pop. I wouldn’t call it a strong shading ink, but you’ll find some at stroke ends with the right papers. This adds pops of energy and variety.

Inks in the City of London set have all performed very well, and Harrods Green is just as pleasing in all ways. Strokes were clean and sharp on all papers tested. Smooth and wet in flow, it’s a very comfortable ink. It’s the kind of ink that in writing performance, you don’t even think about, as you fill the page.

While some dark greens have a tendency to crust in the nib and feed if left unused for several days, that wasn’t a problem with Harrods Green in my experience. Drying on the page was always average or better in time, and the chromatography suggests a decent level of water resistance, as well.

I think this is a very attractive ink, and love the way it writes. Harrods Green and the City of London set are an easy recommendation, and worth the effort to own. In fact, I recommend both the New York City and Seoul sets from the City series, as well. All three are beautifully presented and the inks are consistently good.

You can find the sets at BlueBlack’s beautiful store in Seoul, or order online from their Korean or English-language websites. They have quite a few store-exclusives (more on the Korean website), and if you can visit in-person, you won’t regret it!

Special thanks to BlueBlack for surprising me with the gift of this set. It hasn’t influenced my review, but it is appreciated!