about the cohort
Hosting a silent tea retreat asks for something more than brewing skill — it demands presence, clarity, and the ability to lead without words. Over eight weeks, you’ll step into that role with Amgalan Chin, whose cross-regional tea expertise and long engagement with aged Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱) and dark teas make him a natural guide for the slow, deep work of retreat leadership.
This cohort is built for practitioners who already have a solid foundation in gongfu cha and want to create environments where silence becomes the primary teacher. The curriculum combines live, interactive sessions with offline practice, reflective exercises, and curated tea tastings. You’ll learn to read a room through posture, breath, and the tempo of water, and to select teas that support the shifting energy of a day-long or multi-day retreat.
We begin with the architecture of silence: how to welcome guests into a wordless space, how to use the first pour as a signal, and how the choice of an aged Shēng Pǔ’ěr for the opening bowl can establish a calm, receptive mood. From there, we move into non-verbal communication — gestures for offering, receiving, and pausing — and the subtle art of pacing a session so that time feels expansive rather than empty.
Group dynamics are central. A circle of tea drinkers carries its own currents, and the leader must sense when to slow down, when to offer a grounding tea like Lǎo Chá Tóu (老茶头) shou nuggets, and when to introduce a livelier leaf to lift a sagging afternoon. Each week you’ll practise these skills in small-group settings, receiving direct feedback from Amgalan and your peers.
Tea selection is not merely a matter of quality; it’s a matter of intention. We’ll explore how different families of Chinese tea — from Wǔ Yí Yán Chá (武夷岩茶) to Fèng Huáng Dān Cōng (凤凰单丛), from Bái Hǎo Yín Zhēn (白毫银针) to Jūn Shān Yín Zhēn (君山银针) — function within a retreat context. You’ll learn to build a retreat menu that has a coherent arc, much as you’d structure a long-form tea session, but scaled across days.
Throughout the cohort, you’ll draw on resources from across the Teamotea constellation. For deeper study of tea science, tea.school offers complementary modules; when sourcing the teas for your own future retreats, shop.puerh.app provides authentic, well-stored material; and to connect with a community of fellow retreat hosts, tea.community is your ongoing home.
The final two weeks are dedicated to integration: you’ll design and lead a short silent session for your cohort, receiving a 360-degree review, and you’ll craft a personal retreat blueprint that you can take into the world. By the end, you won’t simply know the theory — you’ll have lived the practice, and you’ll carry the quiet confidence that genuine leadership requires.
Week by week
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Week 1 — aged Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱), 2015 Spring Yiwu. foundations of silence — setting the retreat atmosphere and using the first pour as a non-verbal invitation
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Week 2 — Wǔ Yí Yán Chá (武夷岩茶), Dà Hóng Páo (大红袍). non-verbal signalling — gestures, eye contact, and gongfu rhythm as a language
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Week 3 — Bái Hǎo Yín Zhēn (白毫银针), Fuding 2022. group dynamics — holding a quiet container, sensing energy shifts, and gentle realignment
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Week 4 — Fèng Huáng Dān Cōng (凤凰单丛), Mí Lán Xiāng (蜜兰香). curating tea for retreat segments — aromatic complexity for deep-silence sessions
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Week 5 — Lǎo Chá Tóu (老茶头), 2010 Menghai. pacing and timing — using earthy, enduring shou to support extended sittings
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Week 6 — Lù’ān Guā Piàn (六安瓜片). handling difficulty — bright, clarifying green tea for moments that need a steady hand
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Week 7 — Jūn Shān Yín Zhēn (君山银针). ritual design — the ceremonial thread that weaves separate bowls into a single retreat
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Week 8 — 1990s Hong Kong-stored Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱). integration — designing and leading your own silent session, and receiving full peer review
What’s included
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eight live two-hour sessions with Amgalan Chin, each blending discussion, tasting, and practice
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a curated set of eight rare Chinese teas delivered to your door, selected for retreat leadership work (sourcing partners at shop.puerh.app)
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a printed silent retreat leadership handbook with session scripts, tea menus, and troubleshooting guides
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weekly small-group practice pods where you lead and receive peer feedback
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private community access on tea.community for ongoing conversation and resource sharing
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lifetime access to all session recordings and written materials
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a certificate of completion from tea.school
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a guest pass to observe one day of a Teamotea silent retreat within 12 months
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one-on-one mentoring session with Amgalan at the cohort midpoint