a good taste of life: kaweco sport milk chocolate
The streets are overflowing with people trying to walk through and bikes darting past. A car tries to crawl through, going inch by inch. People jump out of the way when they realise it, but it takes them a while. Everyone is sitting outside, enjoying the sun that hasn’t shone in a while. Somebody that I used to know called this weather “lemonade weather”. It’s the perfect weather. The sun warms your skin while a soft breeze cools it down. These are the days when you stay up late well into the night, chatting and dancing and being outside.
I have so many Kaweco Sport pens. I still keep buying them. They’re easily also my most used, I generally have one or two inked constantly. Mostly more. I love the cheerful colours, the non-fussy nibs and the small size. The reason this Kaweco Sport is even more special for me is that it’s a special edition made for Fontoplumo. Fontoplumo is the pen store in Delft, Netherlands -small town with a couple of universities and way too many students. Hey, I’m one of them! Therefore, I tend to visit Fontoplumo somewhat often to get my inks and pens. Sometimes on my way to school, sometimes I’ll drop by while returning, sometimes for a pen emergency. Penmergency? Frank is always the most helpful, even when I just spend so much time wandering around. Studying during Covid wasn’t easy, but going out for a stroll and looking at pens at the window definitely did make my day.
So when the newsletter arrived about this “milk chocolate” Kaweco Sport, I ordered it right then and there. From my phone. On the bus. While going to school. For their 10th anniversary, they released a series of pens under the theme of “Taste of Life”, starting with a couple of Leonardo’s. Then this Sport came along and stole my heart. It’s a delicious chocolate colour and a great addition to the theme. I think it’s even a little extra special due to the chocolaterie next to Fontoplumo. They make amazing chocolate and if you’re there during the time they’re actually cooking chocolate at the back, you’ll walk through a street smelling like chocolate. I have to really hold myself back to not buy any chocolate while I go to Fontoplumo. Okay, I might’ve dropped by there more than I like to admit… They also have a nice fudge selection.
Anyway, I got my pen and inked it up straight away with L’artisan Pastellier Noisette (Hazelnut). Mine has a double broad nib, the exact opposite end of the spectrum from what I generally use. All of my other Sport’s have fine or extra fine nibs. I had gotten a BB nib once before, but traded it with a friend because she hadn’t liked the fine nib, wanted something much larger. The nib wrote a little scratchy and skippy out of the box, the ink flow even completely stopped at one point, after writing about two A5 pages. That’s on me though, apparently there was some leftover residue between the tines that I should’ve flushed out before trying to write with it. But what can I do? I was super excited and I had the perfect ink to use. It’s my “Nutella” combination. A smooth, creamy milk chocolate and hazelnuts.
The nib writes great now, I’ve written more pages with it -which isn’t very hard since it’s a pretty large nib. It’s decently wet and very very round. The tipping is almost a perfect sphere. It makes for an extremely smooth and well-rounded (pun definitely intended) writing experience, but if you’re looking for a slightly stubbish BB experience, you’re not going to find it here. The ink shades nicely too, it’s a very cute colour, albeit a little drier than I like. It’s hard to describe, a brown-pink-orange colour. In daylight, it’s definitely much more pink; when I was writing the review last night, it looked much more brown. Another noteworthy thing about this ink is its resistance to feathering. I do not use well-known fountain pen friendly paper for my writing samples so that I can see/show an average performance, and this one did not feather at all. After writing all this, I’ve already gotten through almost a complete cartridge. This nib drinks ink like it’s no tomorrow. Great to use with some super shading and fun inks.
There is a reason why I have so many Kaweco Sport pens, and that is because they’re the perfect EDC pen for me. Literally. I carry them everyday. I have read about some people having quality control problems with the nibs, but mine have been pretty great so far. The Milk Chocolate Sport is one of my favourite ones ever, mostly because it is tied to good memories. Also, it looks like chocolate. I love chocolate. So much that I actually bought two of these pens and gave one to a friend that is a true chocolate connoisseur. Some true penabling right there.
Thank you for reading! I just got my first job ever and have been drowning in work this week. I’m happy but super tired, so much that I didn’t even realise I skipped posting this week. I feel like I should add that Fontoplumo is not sponsoring this blog in any way. It's my way of supporting my local awesome pen shop.
Congratulations on getting your first job. Thank you for reviewing this pen. I’m tempted. I’m a bit of a chocoholic! I purchased an European only dark brown Kaweco several years ago. I‘ve had good luck with their nibs as well. The 1.1mm italic is lovely.
I purchased my first Kaweco Sport (M) not so long ago, and had it replaced TWICE because of the poor nib quality. Ultimately, I settled for a F.
Kaweco does have a real (and well known) QA problem with their nibs beyond EF and F.
But apart from that, my Sport Silverline is part of my EDC.