Comment 27 for bug 235399

The problem is not really OpenOffice.
This is a bug in the HP drivers.
I have seen it happen on all HP inkjet color printers I have used in my years of Linux usage (6 years, and I haven't used laser color printers to see if that happens to them).
Unfortunately, it seems not enough people complain about it.
Currently this is what I do:
after Ubuntu automatically installs the printer, I set it to print to color, in 600 dpi Black+Color cartridge (pick your poison here).
Then, I manually add a new printer, pointing it to the same printer, and set this one to print with only black cartridge.

At least in this way, I don't have to enter dialogs, tabs and menus just to set color, I just pick one of the printers.
Unfortunately, this still isn't good enough for mixed documents, then it still prints text as mixed color ink (that's why I just bought a bulk ink system).

Hope that helps.