Pigment vs. stain for concrete

These are the people that know, and there's a number to call at the bottom of the page.

http://www.scofield.com/

We once used colored concrete and it looked so great. Despite the
constant exposure to sunlight, the discoloration was modest. We
also chose a darker Terracotta. We sold the house after 10 years and
the concrete still looked nice then.

You didn't have a problem with the batches matching as far as color?

Theoretically, you should be able to mix the same amount of pigment in each load, but cement trucks vary in capacity as they get older, brand new ones carry more than old ones, since you can get all the cement off the inside.

So all the loads could vary in color.

Now to me, that's not a problem, I don't know the technical term, but I'd just have them pour the loads and just brush over the adjoining batches with a work broom. Any variations would just be character.

However, I'm dealing with Mr. Tea, a perfectionist.

I think to myself "Jesus, how much could the color vary"?

No color varations at all. Now, I wasn't physically there when they
poured the concrete, so I don't know if they had more than one load,
but the area was quite large (courtyard) and it all matched fine. It would
have looked awful with grey concrete, and we didn't want to have the
added expense of concrete and tiles on top of it. So it worked perfectly.

It's probably similar to buying mixed paint. The formula is always the
same and every gallon comes out the same color.

I don't know about load you'll need...

really, Chai, Scofield is the champ in this stuff - I think they'd explain the pros and cons. I'm sure there is a pdf on all this stuff. I've used both integral color and "dust on" color with never a problem. However, with the dust on top color, if a meteor lands on your driveway, the resultant ding will eventuate in a hole where the natural color of the concrete will show.

Is Mr. Tea doing the work? If you have a contractor, go for a good one and look at his or her projects. Be sure you get proper scorelines/expansion joints.

Jane has the answer - is best but cost more, tint the concrete.

Jane didn't actually pinpoint which way to tint the concrete.

I've not been involved in specifying this stuff for more than a decade and I'll not point you in a direction since I'm not sure of the latest.

Contractors used to find dust on easier.
I am not sure re the so-what of that.

I've been involved in specifying concrete, g'help me, for a lot of property.

Usually we picked integral, occasionally dust on for color reasons. I wasn't usually the person to do the walk throughs, but from photos et al, we didn't have weird concrete meets, no matter how extensive, always worked with pro crews. A couple of residential projects of mine done with dust on were wonderful and remain so (no meteors yet).
But I'm not the concrete queen, I'm just sort of familiar with all this, have designed a lot of driveways and patios, yadda yadda - I did the grading, called out materials.

On your hub's side, chai, I've little experience on how to get the contractor/concrete purveyor/ to match the batch. We did major housing tract concrete and never had a glaring problem, but I wasn't at the helm at that except for original call-out -- don't know numbers.

Which is why I say, just email or call Scofield.

Thing is, we're talking about this when people want concrete to look more natural. Uniformity is not assumed as a plus, at least some of the time.
My own pov, especially after my absolutely gorgeous porch got stained and I don't know how... is to let stains and weathering happen. Go ahead and drool chile pepper grease.

You can seal concrete, as well.
varying asthetics...