Darkest Forest on Ethereal Espresso
#223311 on #3e2723
Body text at this size
And the smaller size most interfaces actually use for paragraphs — the size that decides whether a pair is usable.
Caption text, which almost nothing passes.
WCAG 2.1
1.02:1
Fails AA
Not AAA (7:1). Swapping the two colours gives the same number — the ratio does not know which is the text.
APCA
Lc 0.0
Below Lc 15: the draft treats this as not text.
Too close to call.
Colour difference
ΔE00 27.8
different colours
Above 10 — related only in the sense that both are colours.
What the text colour has to become
#859a73 is the nearest colour of the same hue that passes AA on #3e2723, at 4.50:1. Only the lightness moved — which is the point: your colour stays recognisably your colour.
And to someone missing a cone
protanopia
Ratio 1.09:1, ΔE00 10.4.
deuteranopia
Ratio 1.01:1, ΔE00 6.4.
tritanopia
Ratio 1.06:1, ΔE00 33.3.
The weakest of the three is deuteranopia, where the two are ΔE00 6.4 apart against 27.8 for a trichromat — still two colours, but a closer call than it looks to you.
Both colours have pages of their own: Darkest Forest ·Ethereal Espresso · the same pair the other way round ·all pairs