Terms of Membership

1. What High Tea is

High Tea is a genuine private members’ association. Our purpose is community, hospitality, wellness, and education — a private lounge where members relax, meet, and spend time.

High Tea is not a shop and not a cannabis retailer. We do not sell, supply, trade in, or distribute cannabis. Within the private space of the lounge, adult members exercise their own rights — recognised by the Constitutional Court in Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development v Prince (2018) and given statutory effect by the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act, 2024 — to use and cultivate cannabis in private for their personal use.

Any cannabis a member accesses through High Tea is provided through member-only cultivation education and arrangements among the membership, as a lawful part of that private activity — never as a sale to the public. Amounts shown on the platform for cannabis are member contributions toward those arrangements, not retail prices. Membership, contributions, venue access, and other services — not the sale of cannabis — are what fund the association.

2. Membership and eligibility

To become a member you must be at least 18 years old and give us accurate, current information about yourself. We verify your age at sign-up, and again where the law or these terms require it.

Membership is personal to you and cannot be transferred, lent, or shared. You may hold one membership. There is a free base tier, and higher tiers you either grow into or join — the details of each are shown when you’re eligible to move up. We may accept, decline, or place conditions on any application, and we may suspend or end a membership under section 8.

You are responsible for keeping your login details secure and for everything done under your account. Tell us straight away if you think someone else has access.

3. House rules — your responsibilities

As a member you agree to:

• use the lounge, the space, and anything you obtain here lawfully, and only for your own personal use;
• never supply, sell, share, or pass on cannabis to anyone who is not an adult member — and never, under any circumstances, to a minor;
• never resell anything you obtain through the association;
• consume responsibly, and not in public — cannabis use is for private spaces, not the street or the station;
• if you’re a Neighbour bringing a guest, take responsibility for your guest’s conduct in the lounge and for your guest also being 18 or older;
• treat the staff, the other members, and the space with respect;
• not bring the association into disrepute or put its lawful standing at risk.

Breaking these rules is the fastest way to lose your membership, and some of them are also against the law.

4. Contributions, fees, and payment

Membership at the base tier is free. Paid tiers, contributions toward cultivation arrangements, and any venue or additional services are shown to you before you commit to them.

Paid tiers are billed monthly, in advance. If a month goes unpaid, the tier is suspended — it is not carried as a debt. We do not invoice arrears, and you owe us nothing for the months you were suspended. To come back, pay one month or bring a qualifying referral, and the tier resumes; anything you had already banked is held for you through the suspension.

We offer two ways to complete an order: at the counter in the lounge, or online. There is no delivery — everything is collected in person at 20 Station Road or enjoyed in the lounge. When you place an order, we may hold the items for you for a limited period; if the hold expires before collection or payment, the items are released.

Where you pay online, payment is handled by our payment provider; we do not store your card details.

5. Age

You must be 18 or older to be a member or to be admitted to the members’ area. We take this seriously. If you give us a false date of birth or misrepresent your age, your membership is void from the start, and we may refuse you entry. The platform and the association are not intended for anyone under 18.

6. What we offer, and no medical claims

Descriptions of strains, elixirs, and other items describe their character and the effects members report. Nothing on the platform is medical advice, and nothing we offer is a medicine or a treatment. We make no therapeutic or health claims. If you have a health question or condition, speak to a qualified professional — don’t rely on us for it.

We may change the menu, the tiers, contribution amounts, our hours, and what’s available, from time to time.

7. Changes to these terms

The association may update these terms, the constitution, and the house rules. When we make a significant change, we’ll let you know, and the version and date at the top of this page will change. Continuing as a member after a change means you accept the updated terms.

8. Suspension and ending membership

You can end your membership at any time by contacting us.

We may suspend or end your membership if you break these terms or the house rules, act unlawfully, misrepresent yourself, or put the association or its members at risk. Where it’s fair to, we’ll tell you why.

Suspension of a paid tier for an unpaid month, under section 4, is a separate thing from suspension for breach. It is not a penalty, it carries no debt, and the tier resumes as soon as you pay a month or bring a qualifying referral.

When a membership ends, your rights to use the lounge and the platform stop. We handle your personal information afterwards as set out in the Privacy Policy — your identifiers are removed or anonymised, and only the de-identified records the law requires us to keep are retained.

9. Responsibility and liability

You use the lounge, and anything you obtain through the association, on your own responsibility and for your own personal use. To the fullest extent the law allows, High Tea is not liable for any loss or harm arising from your use of the lounge, the platform, or any item obtained here, except where the law does not permit us to exclude that liability.

You agree to indemnify High Tea against any claim, loss, or penalty arising from your breach of these terms or the house rules, or from any unlawful act on your part.

Nothing in these terms limits any right you have that the law says cannot be limited.

10. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and the courts of South Africa have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them.

11. Your content

The Bud Journal lets you keep your own record of what you have tried — the scores you give a strain, the journal fields you fill in, anything you write, and any photograph you add. We call all of that your content. It stays yours: you keep ownership of it.

By posting content to the Bud Journal you give High Tea a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, reproduce, adapt, and publish it — on the platform, in the lounge, and in our own communications — for as long as you are a member and until you remove it. We may publish it attributed to you or anonymised, and we may edit lightly for length, clarity, or house style. We do not sell your content and we do not license it on to anyone else. Posting to the Bud Journal is what gives this permission; we do not ask again entry by entry.

You are responsible for what you post. Post only what is yours to post — your own words and your own photographs — and do not identify another member or a guest without their agreement. Nothing you post may be unlawful, defamatory, or a medical or therapeutic claim (see section 6), and nothing may put the association’s lawful standing at risk.

You can delete an entry at any time, and we will stop publishing it. We may also remove, or decline to publish, any content at our discretion. Removal does not oblige us to recall material already printed or published, but we will not use that content again afterwards. When your membership ends, your journal entries are handled as set out in the Privacy Policy.

12. Contact us

High Tea. hello@hightealounge.com · privacy@hightealounge.com. 20 Station Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7700.