The charcoal Bengal cat comes in brown, silver, snow and blue, and are much darker than these standard colours. In reality it is a pattern, not a colour, as it darkens the colour of the Bengal, but doesn't change it.

Charcoal Bengals look as if they have a masking layer on top of their standard base coat and will have a dark face mask and a thick, dark cape that runs along their back. These are often referred to as Zorro markings. Sometimes the cape will not be present. The spots or rosettes on a charcoal Bengal are filled with an inky black colour, but a charcoal Bengal should still have contrast. They will have white markings surrounding their eyes that will look like spectacles.

The eye colour of a charcoal Bengal can be green, gold or copper. Eyes can also be blue if the charcoal is also snow.

For a Bengal to be charcoal, it must inherit one copy of the non agouti gene (a) and one copy of the charcoal gene (Apb), one from each parent. The Apb charcoal gene comes directly from the Bengal cat's ancestor, the Asian Leopard Cat. We have witnessed some breeders confuse a Bengal with an Apb gene, but no non agouti gene (a), for a charcoal, and likewise Bengals with two copies of the Apb gene, so it is very important to understand these genetics.