Honey yellow. Fiery orange. Cyclamen pink. Icy blue. In warm or cool tones, topaz is a lustrous and brilliant gem.

Many people recognize topaz primarily as an affordable blue gemstone, but they might be surprised to learn that its blue colour is rarely natural and is almost always achieved through treatment. In reality, topaz offers a wide spectrum of colours that can rival even the most exquisite fancy sapphires, including rich pinks and purples.

Topaz is allochromatic, meaning its colour results from impurity elements or structural defects rather than its fundamental chemical composition. Natural pink, red, and violet-to-purple hues in topaz are caused by chromium. Yellow, brown, and blue colours arise from imperfections in the crystal structure. Brown topaz is quite common and is sometimes mistakenly referred to as “smoky quartz.”

Beyond brown, topaz exhibits a remarkable range of colours, including various shades and saturations of blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and purple. Colourless topaz is also abundant and frequently treated to achieve blue tones.

Topaz colours are usually identified by their hue—such as blue topaz or pink topaz—but there are notable exceptions. For instance, Imperial topaz, which is a medium reddish-orange to orange-red, is among the most expensive varieties. Sherry topaz, named after the sherry wine, ranges from yellowish-brown or brownish-yellow to orange. These colors are often referred to as precious topaz to differentiate them from less expensive citrine and smoky quartz that share similar hues.

Additionally, topaz is pleochroic, meaning it can display different colours when viewed from different crystal directions.