After more than a decade in business, High Tea Tighty founder Zaheera Musa is entering a new chapter, bringing together her background in fine art, patisserie and baking in a new Claremont store.
Musa first opened a High Tea Tighty store in Claremont about 14 years ago, opposite the Oval. She ran it for just over three years before becoming a mother and moving the business back home.
For several years, she worked from home while raising her children and continued building the brand, including supplying Checkers for a period. Following her divorce two years ago, she decided to rebuild both personally and professionally.
“I wanted to pick myself up and just find myself again,” she says.
That journey of rediscovery has influenced the new store, from its feminine florals and pink interiors to a rebrand that has given the business a fresh direction.
From bakery to brownie experience
High Tea Tighty has also moved beyond being simply a bakery.
“What we're trying to do here is become South Africa’s premium gifting and experience brownie store,” she says.
Brownies are at the centre of that vision because they are versatile, easy to package and travel well. Ready-made packs of six and 12 are available in-store, while the business also ships products across South Africa.
Cakes and cupcakes remain strong sellers, but Musa wants customers to see High Tea Tighty as a destination for events, corporate gifting and experiences.
The store itself is designed to offer something that online shopping cannot. “The store aspect is to have an experience. The whole thing is experience-based,” she says.
Inspired partly by beautiful stores she encountered while travelling in London and Dubai, Musa wanted to create a space that combined modernity, femininity and her love of travel. That vision is reflected in the store’s Tiffany blue and gold branding and floral interiors.
Visitors are greeted by the smell of freshly baked goods, while new menu items are also in development, including a brownie waffle served with Belgian chocolate and ice cream, as well as a warm brownie served in a cup.
High tea with an Indian influence
High teas have been part of High Tea Tighty since its early days and remain an important part of the new offering.
The menu includes sweet and savoury items, with Indian influences reflecting Musa’s heritage. Tandoori chicken wraps and aloo chaat feature alongside treats such as burfi cupcakes and burfi brownies.
Guests can also book a brownie painting experience, where they decorate edible fondant on brownies using edible paints before taking their creations home.
Despite the rebrand, the name High Tea Tighty has stayed.
“We have a big customer base that have followed us through the years. Some old, some new, some loyal. That’s why we kept the name,” she says.
Where fine art meets patisserie
Her approach to baking is closely linked to her background in art. She studied Fine Art at Michaelis at UCT before going on to study patisserie, combining the two disciplines in her work.
Her passion for baking also began with her mother, who baked and took small orders.
Today, her fine-art background influences the patterns, designs, colours and detail that go into her products.
“When I make the cakes, it’s very detail-oriented. I love the product to look, like I said, too good to eat. But obviously, it needs to taste good as well.”
For Musa, the new chapter is ultimately less about simply selling cakes and more about creating moments around them, from a box of brownies travelling to Johannesburg to a high tea with friends or a brownie-painting session with children.
“The experience that you have in the store becomes a memory that you create with your kids, with your loved ones, with your friends,” she says.
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