The Wood Coffee Cart That Community Built

March 25, 2026

By: Guille Gil-Reynoso, Advancement & Communications Manager

At Cate School, coffee is more than a morning pick-me-up. For many faculty, staff, students, and families, it’s a ritual, a comfort, and a nice way to spark connection. That culture of shared caffeine is what ultimately gave rise to the Wood Coffee Cart — a popular pop-up on the Mesa.

The idea originated years ago with David Wood, a former Japanese instructor and soccer coach at Cate, who inherited a small espresso machine from a colleague heading out on sabbatical. After having the coffee maker for a while, David thought he might as well use it, so he started researching coffee and delved deeper into the craft. He began making coffee for a handful of colleagues. Eventually, he upgraded his starter machine to a more advanced setup with grinders and accessories, but that still couldn’t support more than five to six people. Wood upgraded again and passed on his old machine to science instructor and coffee enthusiast Dr. Jamie Kellogg, and the two began brainstorming. “What can we do with two machines?” they wondered.

Their answer: make coffee for the community.

David and Jamie began staging a pop-up coffee station across campus — at post-Outings gatherings, Camp Cate, and Family Weekends. The process was a bit demanding; they had to haul heavy machines and equipment across campus and set up tables. The pair eventually started researching carts that would make the coffee operation more mobile. That search led them to art instructor John Swain.

John agreed to build a cart from scratch in 2021. True to Cate tradition, he constructed a coffee cart entirely from reclaimed campus wood: redwood benches from Fleischmann Gym served as the frame, slats made from the stone pine that once stood over Commencement Lawn, and a countertop fashioned from the desk of former Admission Director Noah Hotchkiss. Visual Arts Department Chair Joy Doyle designed the “Wood Coffee” sign. In fact, Joy and John convinced David that the name on the sign referred to the wood used for the cart, not him, knowing David would resist any attention. However, the sign indeed honors the “generous godfather of specialty coffee at Cate School — David Wood.”

When David retired in 2022, he left behind a professional-grade grinder to support larger community serving days. A Cate parent soon followed and donated an espresso machine, hoping the project would help their student build new social connections on campus.

Today, the Wood Coffee Cart is a well-loved fixture, serving as an informal hub for faculty, students, and families. What began as a coffee routine for two esteemed colleagues has become a durable community builder. Jamie is now the driving force behind the coffee cart’s ongoing success, teaching students to master the art of a good espresso. “It just makes people happy to get a cup of coffee,” Jamie said. “It’s a wonderful and simple way to build community. When we say, ‘Come by the Wood Coffee cart and say hello,’ people do.”