The same four people, every week
Teatime seats you with three people from your city for half an hour, on the same night every week, with one good question to start. Try a few tables, keep the one that clicks, and meet for coffee when you’re ready.
18+ and verified. Opening one city at a time, wherever the list is longest.
What’s changed most about your life in the last two years?
- MMayaER nurse, moved here in March“Survived my first night shift on the new unit.”
- DDevWorks from home, two loud dogs“Found a running route that isn’t a parking lot.”
- RRuthRetired teacher, new to pottery“My first bowl came out of the kiln. It’s a plate now.”
- YYour seat
How a season works
Eight weeks, one night a week, the same three people. That’s the whole app.
- Weeks 1–2Try a few tablesPick a night. For the first two weeks you sit with a different three people each time, all from your city. After each table you quietly pick who you’d sit with again.
- Week 3Your table formsWhen the picks line up, that’s your table. Four people, the same night every week, for the rest of the eight-week season.
- 7:55 pmCatch up firstBefore each call, everyone writes their week in a line. You walk in knowing Maya survived her first night shift, so you skip the small talk.
- 8:00 pmHalf an hour, same facesA video call with your table and one question to start. The questions get a little more personal each week. Nothing is recorded, and nobody else is watching.
- Week 5Coffee, if you wantYour table lives nearby, so after a month we suggest meeting in person: a public spot halfway between you, on a weekend morning. Go if you want to; the Tuesdays carry on either way.
- Week 8Keep your tableAt the end of the season you decide together: keep the table for another eight weeks, or try new ones. Most good tables keep going.
Friendship runs on hours
Research from the University of Kansas found that friendships are made of time spent together, and that it takes a lot of it. School and offices used to hand adults those hours for free. Then we moved, went remote, or the kids left, and nobody put them back.
- 50hours to go from acquaintance to casual friend
- 90hours to become friends
- 200+hours to become close friends
Half an hour a week won’t make a best friend on its own. It does the hardest part, getting from stranger to someone you’d text, on a schedule. The coffees do the rest.
Hall, J. A. (2018). How many hours does it take to make a friend? Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
Why it works when apps don’t
The same faces
Friendship comes from seeing the same people again and again. Strangers every night is entertainment; the same table every Tuesday is how people actually get close.
A question to start
Nobody has to carry the conversation. Each week’s question goes a little deeper than the last, which is how closeness builds between people who started as strangers.
Near enough to meet
Your table is from your city. The calls are the safe, easy start; the coffee is where it turns into something.
For anyone starting a new chapter
Most adults don’t lose their friends in one go. Life moves, and the easy ways of seeing people go with it. If one of these sounds like you, you’re who we built this for.
- Just movedNew city, nobody to call on a Saturday.
- Working from homeThe office was where your friends were.
- Kids just leftThe house is quiet and the calendar is empty.
- Newly singleHalf of your social life went with them.
- Recently retiredPlenty of time, fewer people to spend it with.
- New parentYou love them, and you miss talking to adults.
Questions that get past small talk
See a whole season of questions- What’s the best thing you ate this week?
- What did you do last weekend that you’d do again?
- What’s something you’re an amateur at and proud of?
- What’s changed most about your life in the last two years?
- Who taught you something you still use every day?
- What’s a rule you follow that nobody taught you?
- What’s harder about being an adult than you expected?
- Who do you call when something good happens?
- What’s a decision you’re glad you made even though it was hard?
Safe by design
Meeting new people should feel brave, not risky. So the rules are built into the app, not left to good intentions.
- Verified and 18+Everyone confirms who they are before their first table. Real names, no anonymous accounts.
- No private messagesYour table has one shared thread, and that’s it. Nobody can message you one-on-one, and nobody can ask you for money.
- Public places onlyWhen tables meet, we suggest a busy public spot in daylight. Going is always optional.
- Quiet ratings, real people reading reportsAfter each table you can flag anything private, in one tap. Every report is read by a person, and people who make tables worse stop getting seated.
Less than a coffee a week
A season is eight weeks at your table. You pay per season, so there’s nothing to cancel and no subscription to forget about.
Founding members pay $24 for their first season.
If you don’t find a table you want to keep, your next season is on us.
Save a seat in your city
We open one city at a time, starting where the list is longest. Add yours, and we’ll email you when it’s time to pick your night.