What is the hex code for Caramel?

The hex code for Caramel is #C68642.

What are the RGB values for Caramel?

The RGB values for Caramel are rgb(198, 134, 66).

Is Caramel accessible on white backgrounds?

Caramel has a contrast ratio of 3.05:1 on white, which does not pass WCAG AA (requires 4.5:1).

Caramel (#C68642) — Hex, RGB, HSL & WCAG Scores

Tints & Shades

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Scale from white (50) through Caramel (500) to black (900), interpolated in Lab color space.

Color Values

HEX: #C68642
RGB: rgb(198, 134, 66)
HSL: hsl(31, 54%, 52%)
OKLCH: oklch(0.672 0.115 65)
CMYK: cmyk(0%, 32%, 67%, 22%)

Luminance:0.2945

CSS var:--color-caramel

Tailwind:bg-[#C68642]

Accessibility

Score: 31/100

On White (#FFF)

3.05:1

AA Large

On Black (#000)

6.89:1

On Light Gray (#F5F5F5)

2.8:1

Fail

Best text color on this background:

black — 6.89:1

Open in Contrast Checker →

Design Applications

Background

background-color: #C68642

Text Color

color: #C68642

bg-[#C68642] text-[#000000]

Accent border card component

border-left: 4px solid #C68642

Color Harmonies

Complementary

Aegean Blue

#1F456E

Triadic

Phthalo Green

#123524

Blue Violet

#8A2BE2

Split-Complementary

Dark Turquoise

#00CED1

Blue

#0000FF

Analogous

Garnet

#733635

Coral

#FF7F50

Pearl White

#F0EAD6

Yellow

#FFFF00

Similar Colors

Caramel Orange

#C68642

Peru

#CD853F

Raw Sienna

#CB8442

Bronze

#CD7F32

Ochre

#CC7722

Copper

#B87333

Color Meaning & Psychology

Brown is the color of earth, wood, and food — the most organic color in the spectrum. It conveys honesty, dependability, and unpretentiousness. Unlike the engineered precision of black, brown's warmth feels handmade and authentic. Coffee culture has made brown aspirational in ways it never was in the 20th century; the smell and warmth of a coffee shop is inseparable from its brown palette. Darker, richer browns signal luxury craft — leather, walnut, dark chocolate. Lighter sandy browns feel outdoor, regional, and approachable. Brown's weakness is its association with dirt and decay in medical contexts, where it is largely avoided. At medium lightness, it is the most versatile tone of this hue family — readable as text on light backgrounds, yet vibrant enough as a visual accent.

Industry Usage

Common contexts and industries where Caramel is applied in professional design.

Coffee shops and specialty beverage brands
Chocolate and premium confectionery
Outdoor gear and hiking equipment
Furniture and home furnishing brands
Craft beer and artisanal food products
Leather goods and accessories
Organic and natural food products
Heritage and classic whiskey/spirits brands

Accessibility Considerations

Normal Text

Fails AA

4.5:1 minimum required

Large Text

Passes AA Large

3:1 minimum required

UI Components

Meets 1.4.11

3:1 for non-text UI

Caramel is a light color. Use black (#000000) text on top of it for maximum readability (6.89:1). Avoid white text on this background.

Test this color in the Contrast Checker →·WCAG Contrast Guide →

CSS & Code Examples

Background

background-color: #C68642;

Text

color: #C68642;

Border

border: 2px solid #C68642;

Box Shadow

box-shadow: 0 4px 20px #C6864240;

Gradient

background: linear-gradient(135deg, #C68642, #fcb66f);

Tailwind-style

--color-caramel: #C68642;

Tailwind CSS Utilities

Use arbitrary value syntax in Tailwind CSS to apply Caramel without a custom config.

Background

bg-[#C68642]

Text

text-[#C68642]

Border

border-[#C68642]

Ring

ring-[#C68642]

Fill

fill-[#C68642]

From (gradient)

from-[#C68642]

Via (gradient)

via-[#C68642]

To (gradient)

to-[#C68642]

Design Tokens

Ready-to-use Caramel design token in CSS custom properties, SCSS, Tailwind v3/v4, and JSON formats.

CSS Custom Properties

:root {
  --color-caramel: #C68642;
  --color-caramel-rgb: 198, 134, 66;
  --color-caramel-hsl: 31, 54%, 52%;
}

SCSS Variables

$color-caramel: #C68642;
$color-caramel-rgb: 198, 134, 66;
$color-caramel-hsl: 31, 54%, 52%;

Tailwind v3 Config

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        'caramel': '#C68642',
      },
    },
  },
};

Tailwind v4 (@theme)

/* tailwind.css */
@theme {
  --color-caramel: #C68642;
}

JSON Design Token (W3C format)

{
  "caramel": {
    "value": "#C68642",
    "type": "color",
    "description": "Caramel — #C68642"
  }
}

More brown colors

View all →

Brown

#A52A2A

Dark Brown

#5C4033

Light Brown

#B5651D

Chocolate

#7B3F00

Coffee

#6F4E37

Mahogany

#C04000

Sienna

#A0522D

Raw Umber

#826644

Burnt Sienna

#E97451

Cinnamon

#D2691E

Mocha

#967117

Walnut

#5D432C

What Does Caramel Mean? Color Psychology & Cultural Symbolism

In an era of digital abstraction, Caramel operates as a powerful anchor to the material world. Its medium character at 52% lightness registers as authenticity—a response built from millennia of associating earth-toned environments with stability, shelter, and natural abundance.

Across color psychology research, brown consistently tests high for "authenticity" associations, making Caramel a reliable vehicle for authenticity in cross-demographic audiences.
Brand designers draw on brown-family tones to project naturalness and warmth—values that Caramel communicates in a medium key.
At 54% saturation, Caramel reads as subdued—neither overwhelming nor passive, landing in the earthiness, stability, warmth, and authenticity zone with measured confidence.
Caramel's medium lightness (52%) shifts its psychological register: a balanced mid-tone that embodies earthiness, stability, warmth, and authenticity at its most direct.

The brands that use Caramel well are the ones that understand that authenticity can't be faked—it can only be matched by colors that embody it.

How to Use Caramel in Design: Applications, Pairings & Best Practices

Brands reaching for authenticity and craft frequently choose Caramel over other options precisely because it doesn't try to be clever. It simply is what it is—warm, honest, and materially grounded.

Avoid: technology products, clinical healthcare, and anything that needs to project cleanliness or digital precision.
Color harmonies: Caramel's complementary color creates a high-energy split ideal for promotional design; its analogous palette (±30° hue) builds cohesive, monochromatic sophistication.
Proportional use: Caramel's subdued quality means it scales well across proportions—from full-bleed backgrounds to single-pixel borders—making it an unusually versatile palette component.
Caramel creates strong legibility with black text overlays (6.9:1 contrast ratio), making it a reliable background or surface color in design systems
Typography: Caramel as text requires a dark background; its 52% lightness means it provides 3.0:1 contrast on white, not meeting WCAG AA.

The brands that use Caramel well are the ones that understand that authenticity can't be faked—it can only be matched by colors that embody it.

Caramel Accessibility: WCAG Contrast Ratios, Color Blindness & Inclusive Design

Caramel (#C68642) reaches 6.89:1 contrast with black text—meeting WCAG 2.1 AA minimum of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. It clears standard production accessibility requirements. Relative luminance: 29.4%.

As text on white (#FFFFFF): 3.05:1 — AA (large text only)
As text on black (#000000): 6.89:1 — AA ✓
Best text color on Caramel background: Black (#000000) at 6.89:1
WCAG 2.1 luminance: 29.4% — mid-range luminance—it sits in the transition zone where both dark and light text approaches require testing against the 4.5:1 WCAG threshold
Caramel qualifies for normal body text and all larger sizes (AA).
Color blindness consideration: protanopia and deuteranopia (red-green color blindness, ~8% of males) may affect how brown-family colors are distinguished from greens and browns. For critical UI states, supplement color alone with shape, label, or pattern cues.

For production use, test Caramel against your specific background colors rather than assuming #FFFFFF or #000000 performance translates. Surrounding colors alter perceived contrast.

Caramel in Industry: Branding, Design & Market Applications

Caramel's brand positioning falls squarely in the territory of earthiness, stability, warmth, and authenticity. Industry data supports its strongest performance in food & beverage, outdoor & lifestyle, coffee categories, where the subdued saturation calibrates the message at a medium, considered level.

Food & Beverage: Brown's associations with coffee, chocolate, bread, and wood-fire cooking make it indispensable for food brands that want to project artisanal quality, warmth, and natural origin. The color does the work of suggesting handmade, slow-craft processes before a single word is read. (examples: Chipotle, Sweetgreen, Blue Bottle Coffee) Light browns work for dairy and bakery; dark browns for coffee, chocolate, and premium spirits.
Outdoor & Lifestyle: Outdoor, hiking, and adventure brands use brown as an earth tone that grounds the product in natural environments. Combined with forest greens and slate grays, it creates a palette language of terrain, durability, and wilderness competence. (examples: Yeti, Arc'teryx, Patagonia) Brown leather and canvas associations make it particularly effective for gear, footwear, and heritage outdoor brands.
Craft & Artisanal: The craft movement across food, beer, candles, and home goods has made brown its unofficial color—it signals hand-made, small-batch, locally-sourced, and premium-for-a-reason. Any product that wants to claim artisanal credentials benefits from earthy, brown-anchored packaging. Kraft paper brown in particular has become synonymous with sustainable, artisanal packaging.
Brand positioning: Caramel is best suited for brands projecting naturalness, warmth, reliability. Categories outside this positioning—technology products—tend to see weaker results.
Adjacent applications: Beyond primary industries, Caramel works effectively in artisanal food, furniture and home goods, natural product labels—contexts where reliability serves a secondary but reinforcing role.

For marketers and brand strategists, Caramel is a commitment to earthiness, stability, warmth, and authenticity. Match it with industries that make that promise and it will pay dividends consistently.

Accessibility & Design Guides

WCAG Contrast Ratio Guide

Understand contrast requirements for AA and AAA compliance

WCAG AA vs AAA

When to target AA vs AAA accessibility standards

Color Blindness Guide

Design for color vision deficiency with safe palettes

Accessible Design Systems

Build color systems that work for everyone

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the hex code for Caramel?: The hex code for Caramel is #C68642. Its RGB values are rgb(198, 134, 66) and its HSL values are hsl(31, 54%, 52%).
What does Caramel mean in design?: Brown is the color of earth, wood, and food — the most organic color in the spectrum. It conveys honesty, dependability, and unpretentiousness. Unlike the engineered precision of black, brown's warmth feels handmade and authentic. Coffee culture has made brown aspirational in ways it never was in the 20th century; the smell and warmth of a coffee shop is inseparable from its brown palette. Darker, richer browns signal luxury craft — leather, walnut, dark chocolate. Lighter sandy browns feel outdoor, regional, and approachable. Brown's weakness is its association with dirt and decay in medical contexts, where it is largely avoided. At medium lightness, it is the most versatile tone of this hue family — readable as text on light backgrounds, yet vibrant enough as a visual accent.
Is Caramel WCAG accessible?: Caramel (#C68642) passes WCAG AA-large on white with a 3.05:1 contrast ratio. Its overall accessibility score is 31/100.
What colors go well with Caramel?: Caramel pairs well with its complementary color Aegean Blue (#1F456E). Analogous colors like Garnet and Coral also work harmoniously. Check the Color Harmonies section above for the full palette.
What is Caramel used for?: Caramel is commonly used for: Coffee shops and specialty beverage brands; Chocolate and premium confectionery; Outdoor gear and hiking equipment; Furniture and home furnishing brands; Craft beer and artisanal food products.
What are the CSS and Tailwind values for Caramel?: In CSS, use `color: #C68642` or `background-color: #C68642`. The CSS custom property is `--color-caramel: #C68642`. In Tailwind CSS, use the arbitrary value class `bg-[#C68642]` for backgrounds or `text-[#C68642]` for text.