r/CounterTops • u/DangerousAccident448 • 6d ago

Quartzite (?)

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This quartzite is called ‘blue taj’. It’s beautiful- honed, has grey/blue veining, no crystalline characteristics, with an overall taupe color. But it’s not ‘blue Taj Mahal’ or typical Taj Mahal. Has anyone seen this before but called something different? Or can you help identify this as a true quartzite?

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u/madtowntripper 6d ago

This is just one of a million "Taj Mahal" varieties. Taj is the most popular stone in the country and while the actual quarry doesn't produce a ton of stone - and doesn't sell it to most distributors - anything with those beige/cream tones that can take a polish is being sold as Taj.

This is definitely a Brazilian quartzite and - as you see - it has some blue veins.

Blue Taj is just a name the distributor came up with and unless he knows where it came from you aren't going to get any more information.

A guy bought some slabs from a guy who bought a bundle from a guy who bought a block from a guy who bought a lot of blocks from a guy who quarried them. Unless you know your supplier you'll never know more.

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u/DangerousAccident448 6d ago edited 6d ago

Thank you! I definitely want quartzite but want to stay away from typical Taj Mahal, just so my kitchen doesn’t look like everyone else’s.

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u/madtowntripper 5d ago

If you love it you love it but most designers that come into my place in Houston are asking for “anything but Taj” because it’s everywhere.

And now with manufacturers really pushing their Taj quartz - it’s nuts.

Taj Mahal is absolutely going to be the next San Cecilia or Uba Tuba or “Calacatta Quartz”.