Papier Plume Café Diabolique: A Burnt-Coffee Brown Worth a Second Look

Introduction

Papier Plume has added a new permanent entry to its New Orleans collection: Caffe Diabolique, named for café brûlot diabolique, a flamboyant burnt-coffee drink invented at Antoine’s restaurant, the famous New Orleans establishment that has been serving it since the late 1800s and is also known as the birthplace of dishes like Oysters Rockefeller. Unlike many of the brand’s limited editions, this ink will be available on a regular basis going forward.

First Impressions: Bottle and Color

The ink comes in a one-ounce bottle with the details Papier Plume is known for: a wax seal at the top that drips attractively over the side, and a label that looks a step up in print quality from earlier releases. It holds a fair amount of ink for its size and presents nicely on a desk.

The color is true to its name. It is a burnt coffee shade, a dark char brown that sits comfortably in the brown family without duplicating anything obvious. Side-by-side comparisons with Three Oysters Go Gong, Ferris Wheel Press Beaver Dam Brown, Private Reserve Chocolate, and Three Oysters Seal Brown all show neighbors that lean more clearly brown, while Caffe Diabolique keeps a darker, charred character. The closest match on hand was a custom-mixed brown, which says something about how distinct this colorway is.

Performance on Paper

On 52-gram Tomoe River paper, saturation is high and shading stays low, with little change even across multiple passes. Sheen is medium-low at best: only a heavy application brings out any sheen, so this is not an ink to buy for shimmering highlights. On Rhodia 80-gram paper, ghosting and bleed are very low, with almost nothing visible on the reverse side. A heavy smothered application can bleed through, but that is expected with an inordinate amount of ink.

Drying times were reasonable, roughly between 15 and 30 seconds for both extra fine and medium nibs. Flow comes in at medium-high, which suits the saturated color well.

How It Writes in Real Pens

In a Leonardo Momento Zero Grande with a stainless steel extra fine nib, the ink performed cleanly and the extra fine line kept its dark, saturated character. In a Diplomat Elox with a medium nib, the medium-high flow gave the brown real presence on the page. In a Pilot Custom Heritage 91 with a double broad nib, the ink produced smooth, rich strokes, though shading remained low even at that width.

With the Pilot Parallel 2.4 mm calligraphy nib used for a header, the ink again looked strongly saturated and did not develop much shading with additional passes.

Waterproof Test

Caffe Diabolique does not claim to be waterproof, but it held up surprisingly well in a soak test. After water exposure, the paper showed more damage than the writing did, with the ink itself remaining largely intact. Chromatography revealed a heavy olive green component along with blue, some reds and purples, and a touch of gray at the end, an interesting breakdown for an ink that reads as a single burnt brown on the page.

Pricing and Availability

Caffe Diabolique will be available beginning November 5th, which falls on Fountain Pen Day this year, and will retail for $10 on the Papier Plume site. As a regularly available ink rather than a limited edition, it should be easier to pick up than many of the brand’s past releases.

Conclusion

This is an interesting brown that does not duplicate the usual chocolate or seal brown suspects. For anyone whose ink shelf lacks a dark char brown, Caffe Diabolique is well worth checking out, and its story, tying a famous flaming tableside coffee to a bottle of ink, only adds to the appeal.