Last year October, word got out about a coffee shop in Sandton.

Of course, it’s not just any coffee shop. Known as 420 Café, it’s the first known cannabis cafe of its kind in South Africa, and it now trades pretty openly.

We got a pretty good introduction to it then – read about it here, as well as some words from the owner Frank L. – but one more visit was necessary.

Times LIVE took another hit and headed over for a peek:

The café’s peaked thatch roof is reminiscent of a lodge in the Lowveld although‚ confusingly‚ there’s an artificial green palm tree at the entrance. The sign at the door is confirmation of what the café offers – it’s a dagga leaf with two fronds folded to form a V sign and the words “420 friendly”.

The other sign that is clearly visible at 420 Café: No persons under 21 allowed.

Is that a “sign” of what’s to come when the green eventually gets legalised? Perhaps a mere deterrent so the young’uns don’t abuse the space.

Situated in Sandton, one of Jozi’s most exclusive suburbs, “stoners don’t conform to a stereotype”:

[A]mong them are lawyers and businesspeople in tailored suits and high heels. Word of the coffee shop has spread‚ so patrons also come from further afield.

As you enter the ground floor‚ you are greeted by graffiti and a cloud of smoke – joints are smoked freely. Yes‚ freely. (I have an admission I should make: I don’t do dagga‚ so imagine my surprise.)

Oh, and although there is a bar, no alcohol is available.

Operating under the guise that it “gives people who have been prescribed marijuana by a doctor a place to purchase the drug and consume it‚ out of public view,” it’s obvious that isn’t really the case:

The hours are convenient – 11am to 11pm – for those wanting a coffee and cannabis break at mid-morning‚ to feed the munchies at lunch or to pop in after work and drift away until closing time.

420 Café’s regular menu offers pizzas‚ toasties and burgers. The bakery does good business in muffins that look pretty fresh – and they’re apparently pretty spacey.

What about the weed on offer? Take a deep whiff of this:

But it was the other menu that intrigued me. It has three categories: “Weed”‚ “Dabs” and “Other”‚ and under each category you can order such things as lemon cheese‚ boss cheese‚ super cheese‚ lemon cheese bulk pack‚ rig rental‚ darkstar dabs‚ buddha‚ weedos‚ moonrocks and cannagars.

Cheese is a strain of cannabis plant grown in the United Kingdom. Lemon cheese is a crossbreed of cheese and lemon skunk. Boss cheese is a cross between Tang Tang and Chemdog. Super cheese is reminiscent of old-school strains in Amsterdam’s coffee shops of the 1980s and created through crossing cheese strains.

Darkstar is a cross between an Afghani strain and purple kush strain and dabs are concentrated extracts of cannabis. Buddha is a cannabis strain that‚ for obvious reasons‚ is also called Laughing Buddha. The best way to describe weedos is cannabis snacks.

Moon rocks look like nuggets and consist of dagga‚ kief (“pollen” – the trichomes on the flower or leaf) and oil. Cannagars are cannabis cigars where the ground-up weed and cannabis concentrate is wrapped in dagga leaves and they’re apparently pretty smooth to smoke.

Prices vary from R100 to R1 000 per gram, and, together with 10 staff members, Frank is hands-on and has strict rules:

A sign in bold letters states the house rules:

1. Take a seat and wait to be served
2. No eating upstairs
3. No drugs
4. Rude and impatient people won’t be tolerated.
5. It’s all medicinal.

And now you know.

Before you go smoke a bong, one more thing: here’s the address.

Oh, and if you’re living in the Cape and have no plans to ever go to Jozi, try this on for size. Bongs, weed, dabs and alles.

[source:timeslive]