diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea/tasks/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/gitea/tasks/main.yaml
index 8b46c6de46..3235d5b37d 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -34,8 +34,12 @@
 - name: Install distro packages
   package:
     name:
+      # TODO(clarkb) does the install-docker role handle these two packages?
       - docker-compose
       - python3-requests
+      # Installed to make checking memcached stats easy in testing and for
+      # human led debugging.
+      - netcat-openbsd
     state: present
 
 - name: Install reverse proxy
@@ -63,9 +67,9 @@
       shell:
         cmd: docker-compose stop --timeout 60
         chdir: /etc/gitea-docker/
-    - name: Run docker-compose up mariadb gitea-web
+    - name: Run docker-compose up mariadb memcached gitea-web
       shell:
-        cmd: docker-compose up -d --timeout 60 mariadb gitea-web
+        cmd: docker-compose up -d --timeout 60 mariadb memcached gitea-web
         chdir: /etc/gitea-docker/
 
     # We wait here for the main gitea service to start before starting
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea/templates/app.ini.j2 b/playbooks/roles/gitea/templates/app.ini.j2
index 013c3dfbc2..cb35ee6fee 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea/templates/app.ini.j2
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea/templates/app.ini.j2
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ PASSWD = {{ gitea_db_password }}
 SSL_MODE = disable
 LOG_SQL = false
 
+[cache]
+ADAPTER = memcache
+HOST = 127.0.0.1:11211
+
 [repository]
 ROOT = /data/git/repositories
 DISABLED_REPO_UNITS = repo.issues,repo.pulls,repo.wiki,repo.projects,repo.actions
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea/templates/docker-compose.yaml.j2 b/playbooks/roles/gitea/templates/docker-compose.yaml.j2
index 5f0ca67c24..60185e5515 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea/templates/docker-compose.yaml.j2
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea/templates/docker-compose.yaml.j2
@@ -20,9 +20,22 @@ services:
       driver: journald
       options:
         tag: "docker-mariadb"
+  memcached:
+    image: quay.io/opendevmirror/memcached:latest
+    network_mode: host
+    restart: always
+    command:
+      - -v
+      - --listen=127.0.0.1:11211
+      - --memory-limit=1024
+    logging:
+      driver: journald
+      options:
+        tag: "docker-memcached"
   gitea-web:
     depends_on:
       - mariadb
+      - memcached
     image: docker.io/opendevorg/gitea:latest
     network_mode: host
     restart: always
diff --git a/testinfra/test_gitea.py b/testinfra/test_gitea.py
index 42a6a6e7aa..4af24bbc16 100644
--- a/testinfra/test_gitea.py
+++ b/testinfra/test_gitea.py
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ def test_gitea_listening(host):
     assert gitea_ssh.is_listening
     gitea_proxy = host.socket("tcp://0.0.0.0:3081")
     assert gitea_proxy.is_listening
+    memcached = host.socket("tcp://127.0.0.1:11211")
+    assert memcached.is_listening
 
 def test_ulimit(host):
     cmd = host.run("/usr/local/bin/docker-compose "
@@ -73,6 +75,12 @@ def test_ondisk_logs(host):
     mariadb_log = host.file('/var/log/containers/docker-mariadb.log')
     assert mariadb_log.exists
 
+    # Commented out for now as memcached logging is either very quiet and
+    # we don't create the file or very verbose and far too chatty for
+    # production (basically no logs or every set and get is logged).
+    #memcached_log = host.file('/var/log/containers/docker-memcached.log')
+    #assert memcached_log.exists
+
     gitea_log = host.file('/var/log/containers/docker-gitea.log')
     assert gitea_log.exists
 
@@ -135,11 +143,14 @@ def test_no_500_template_content(host):
         assert '<title>Internal Server Error' not in cmd.stdout
 
 def test_gitea_screenshots(host):
-
         shots = (
             ('https://localhost:3081', None, 'gitea-main.png'),
             ('https://localhost:3081/opendev/system-config', None,
              'gitea-project-system-config.png'),
+            # Fetch system-config twice to ensure we exercise the caching
+            # system.
+            ('https://localhost:3081/opendev/system-config', None,
+             'gitea-project-system-config2.png'),
             ('https://localhost:3081/opendev/disk-image-builder', None,
              'gitea-project-dib.png'),
             ('https://localhost:3081/opendev/', None,
@@ -150,3 +161,11 @@ def test_gitea_screenshots(host):
 
         take_screenshots(host, shots)
 
+def test_memcached_has_data(host):
+    # We only listen on localhost on the gitea server otherwise we could
+    # open a socket directly from this test case and request the stats data.
+    cmd = host.run("echo 'stats' | nc -N 127.0.0.1 11211")
+    assert cmd.succeeded
+    # Having more than 0 bytes in memcached implies gitea is using
+    # the server as a cache.
+    assert 'STAT bytes 0' not in cmd.stdout
diff --git a/zuul.d/system-config-run.yaml b/zuul.d/system-config-run.yaml
index 56af23de58..cfba552c29 100644
--- a/zuul.d/system-config-run.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/system-config-run.yaml
@@ -651,7 +651,7 @@
     parent: system-config-run-containers
     description: |
       Run the playbook for the gitea servers.
-    timeout: 4800
+    timeout: 5400
     nodeset:
       nodes:
         - <<: *bridge_node_x86