TEA WITH tal silberstein (colbo)

I met Tal at his store, Colbo, in the Lower East Side years ago when I started doing the tea program for the cafe. We had a pop-up with tea-dyed tee-shirts (we actually still have a handful if you want one) and I always stop by when I’m in the neighborhood for basics for my wardrobe (ie the perfect black hoodie, Japanese denim, neutral oversize shirts) and an afternoon tea. Tal’s studio, where he designs his clothing collections, is in Midtown, just around the corner from the New York Times building. I stopped in last week to talk about tea, take some photos, and to preview the new Colbo collection just a week before it is shown in Paris for fashion week. Here is TEA WITH Tal :)

Can you tell me about your relationship with tea?

My relationship with tea. I’m not a huge tea drinker because I’m a very heavy coffee drinker. I’ve probably had four cups [of coffee] today. My biggest thing with tea is when I was living in India and drinking chai all the time. And also when I was living in this [Hare Krishna] community afterwards where there was no meat, no alcohol - it made me see [tea] as something very spiritual. Now I’m in a different space where I’m in f*cking Times Square every day so I’m drinking coffee all day.

I do love iced tea during the day when it’s hot. Hot tea is a very evening thing for me.

I drink tea in the evenings more too.

I like to drink tea when I’m sick, it makes me feel incredible.

What about with Colbo?

There’s a spiritual aspect of sitting and drinking tea versus drinking coffee which for me feels very practical.

I drink coffee because I need to drink coffee. If I don’t drink coffee I don’t participate in life.

But I think tea is a little more ritualistic and energetic and spiritual to me.

[Water boiled] Should we have tea?

Which one do you want?

Holy Basil or Chamomile.

We brought your tea on after we met at Public Records?

No, it was through Elliott [Foos]! Elliott carried Masha Tea at Day Moves and we became friends and he brought it on to Colbo when he worked with you guys.

Are there ceramicists that you like to work with?

When I buy my personal stuff, I usually buy weird vintage at junk stores. I like a very classic hotel cup. White, round, simple, chic, porcelain. I have a bunch of those at home. 

I also look on Ebay for hotel ware. I buy everything Sunset Tower in LA. I have Sunset Tower ashtrays, I have cups, I have plates.

At the store, I carry Mellow. When we first met three years ago I think we also had tea at [Mellow’s] studio back then. She made mugs for tea and espresso cups for coffee that were uniquely shaped and designed for the store which we made both for use and for sale. We’ve had the partnership for two and a half years. We also did incense holders and candles. I feel like incense and tea are a similar thing to me. 

There’s a strong component of tea which is scent memories. I always pair tea and flowers too. 

[We stop to drink tea]

The holy basil is so good! The iced tea with holy basil that Brandon made [for Colbo] was so good with it too - I don’t remember what was in there.

He blended our holy basil and lemon balm!

They did an iced green tea too but I don’t like green tea. 

What about matcha?

I’m not a matcha guy. I want to be a matcha guy. It feels so good to be a matcha guy but I’m not a matcha person. I really want to be. People are obsessed [with matcha] at the cafe. It’s a phenomenon.

I also want to hear more about the Hare Krishna Community you lived in. 

It was in Australia. I lived there for 6 or 7 months and I drank a lot of tea there. So much chai but also I went there initially to go WWOOFing and I created the ginger area in the garden. Planting ginger is weird. It takes a long time, but knowing I was in charge of that and obviously I wasn’t very good, but we also made a lot of teas from what he had. We also made magic mushroom teas. 

One of my favorite teas growing up was mint tea in its simplest form. Just fresh mint and hot water. It was very common where I grew up and it’s very delicious. That’s probably my favorite tea besides chai. 

When I was a teenager, we used to go to these weird raves in the dessert and early in the morning we would either make Turkish coffee or we would made tea with wild hyssop. It’s called zaatar. I don’t think hyssop and zaatar are the same?

I think there are different types of hyssop. Like we carry an anise hyssop tea that tastes kind of like a mild licorice. I don’t think you’ve tried it.

No I would love to try that! It also sounds kind of weird, I also really like fennel and dill so I think I’d really like that. Big branches of big beautiful, almost silver leaves of wild zaatar just with hot water and some sugar. That’s probably one of the best teas I’ve had in my life.