This tree is vigorous and horizontally branching. It is a triploid and two pollenizers will be needed for full fertility. Karmijn is susceptible to fireblight and scab, and somewhat susceptible to powdery mildew and canker.  It's extreme beauty and amazing flavor make the horticultural difficulties worth the effort.

With its orange-red burnished appearance and gold flecked russeting, this mid-sized apple is even more beautiful than its parent, Cox's Orange Pippin. The flesh is coarse and firm, and it is the most highly flavored of all the Cox's offspring. In UCSC Farm & Garden, Orin Martin writes: "The intensely flavored, rich, even sharp blend of sugars and acids will overwhelm the entry-level apple eater–they should be dispatched to look for a sugary sweet Fuji, leaving the Karmijn tasting to more sophisticated palettes ... The flavor mellows somewhat after about a month in storage." Some apple aficionados actually consider Karmijn to be superior to the beloved Cox's.

Karmijn was bred from a cross of Cox's and Jonathan in 1949 at the Wageningen Research Station by Piet de Sonnaville. It was released in 1971.