A miniscule amount of the 2C-H decomposes upon treatment with aqueous sodium hydroxide (only a fraction of 1%) creating highly colored impurities (for example, demethylated 2C-H is a quinoid substance, both prone to di/polymerization and definitely highly colored). It does not take much impurities to create a golden color like the above - only freshly distilled phenethylamines are truly colorless.