Privacy

How participation works

We use an essential session cookie and a browser identifier to support request security, content ownership, username continuity, reactions, saves, duplicate prevention, rate limits, moderation, and other service functions. If you choose a Club @username, the service associates that username with the pseudonymous browser identity used by the Club so the same public identity can be used across eligible Posts, Pours, replies, Journal activity, and Club Chat. A username is not a traditional customer account and does not by itself verify a person’s real-world identity. If you change your username, the name shown on earlier eligible non-anonymous content tied to the same pseudonymous browser identity may also be updated. The application stores pseudonymous hashes rather than the raw browser identifier where designed to do so, and may use temporary keyed network identifiers for abuse prevention. Ordinary hosting and security logs may contain IP addresses, browser information, timestamps, and requested pages. Clearing cookies, browser storage, or changing browsers or devices can prevent the Club from recognizing earlier activity or the browser-linked username. We do not claim that reactions or other pseudonymous activity represent unique people.

Automated safety review

To help protect users and the service, submitted text and certain uploaded images may be automatically analyzed for safety before or after publication. MR MATCHA CLUB currently uses OpenAI's API as a service provider for automated moderation and certain AI features, including Ask MR MATCHA and MR MATCHA SCAN. The submitted text or image, together with limited technical information needed to provide and secure that service, may be processed by OpenAI. Automated systems may allow content, block a clear violation, or hold uncertain content privately for staff review. Automated moderation can make mistakes and does not replace reports or human review where context is needed.

OpenAI currently states that API inputs and outputs are not used to train its models by default unless the API customer explicitly opts in. OpenAI also states that abuse-monitoring logs may be retained for up to 30 days by default, subject to its data controls, legal obligations, and safety or security exceptions. These practices are controlled by OpenAI and may change; MR MATCHA CLUB will update this notice when a material change to our use of the service requires it.

Ask MR MATCHA

Ask MR MATCHA processes the question you submit and a short recent conversation context needed to answer follow-up questions. When you open Ask MR MATCHA from a café profile or café QR code, the request may also include the validated MR MATCHA CLUB café identifier and café information needed to answer questions about “here” or “this café.” That café context identifies the Club profile you opened; it is not precise GPS location and does not by itself prove that you are physically at the café.

If you choose “Surprise me” or another photo-assisted Ask feature, the selected menu or drink image may be compressed in your browser and sent to the Ask endpoint and OpenAI's API for analysis. The current Ask endpoint validates the image in memory and does not write the Ask scan image to MR MATCHA CLUB server disk or post it publicly. OpenAI may process the image and accompanying text under the API practices described above, including image-safety scanning.

For current Ask requests, MR MATCHA CLUB configures the OpenAI Responses API not to store response state for later retrieval. OpenAI may still retain abuse-monitoring data under its applicable API data controls, including the default retention described above. When current public information is useful, Ask MR MATCHA may use OpenAI's web-search capability to retrieve publicly available webpages and sources. Availability varies by website, so Ask MR MATCHA does not have guaranteed access to every page or post on third-party services, and search results or AI summaries may be incomplete or outdated.

Community photos

Photos submitted for public or community features are first processed in private server storage. Accepted JPG, PNG, and WebP files are re-encoded as JPEG, which removes embedded metadata such as EXIF location information from the public copy. Certain Post/Pour photos, Journal photos, and verified café-owner cover or profile photos may be sent to an automated image-safety service before they can become public. Safe Post/Pour photos may publish automatically; Journal submissions remain subject to Journal review. Images that appear unsafe may be blocked or held, and temporary or rejected files may be deleted. Do not upload private documents, addresses, government IDs, payment-card information, intimate images without consent, or photos you do not have permission to share.

MR MATCHA SCAN

MR MATCHA SCAN uses in-browser text recognition first. If that first read is incomplete or unclear, the receipt or cup-sticker image and the browser-read order text may be sent to OpenAI's API to help identify visible order details such as the drink name, milk, sweetness, ice, size, and add-ons. The AI scan is instructed to leave a detail blank when it is not clearly shown rather than guess. The scan image is not posted as a Pour photo, and MR MATCHA CLUB does not intentionally save the receipt or sticker image to its public content database. The image is temporarily processed for the scan request and may be processed by OpenAI as described above. Receipts and stickers can contain names, phone numbers, order numbers, or other information, so avoid scanning material you do not want processed. OpenAI states that image inputs are scanned for potential child sexual abuse material and that an image flagged by that classifier may be retained for manual review even when other data-retention controls apply. Users should review detected order details before posting.

Posts, replies, Journal and Club Chat

Normal eligible Posts, Pours, replies, Journal comments, and Club Chat messages may appear without advance staff approval after automated checks. Content that triggers a safety rule may be blocked or held privately for review instead. Journal stories are a reviewed editorial/community feature and remain pending until MR MATCHA CLUB approves them. Community members can also report public content, and MR MATCHA CLUB may hide, remove, restore, restrict, or preserve content when reasonably needed for safety, legal compliance, dispute handling, or service integrity.

Safety records and restrictions

We may keep moderation decisions, reports, safety-event records, rate-limit information, and pseudonymous identifiers when reasonably needed to investigate abuse, enforce the Community Guidelines, prevent repeat attacks, protect users, or comply with law. Repeated severe abuse may result in temporary or longer posting restrictions tied to pseudonymous security signals. These internal safety signals are not public ratings of a person.

Retention and requests

Club Chat is designed as short-lived conversation, not permanent storage. Ordinary public chat messages are kept for up to 30 days and then removed. Messages connected to an open abuse, safety, or moderation report may be retained for review for up to 90 days. Messages a user or moderator deletes may be removed sooner. Other submitted content, reactions, usernames, safety records, and associated pseudonymous identifiers are retained as reasonably needed to operate and moderate the service, maintain identity and ownership continuity, prevent impersonation or abuse, and protect reserved or official service names, subject to applicable deletion rights and limited legal, fraud-prevention, or security exceptions. Temporary rate-limit records expire automatically.

We do not currently offer a customer-account deletion dashboard because normal participation does not require a customer account. You can request removal of content or ask a privacy question at mrmatcha@mrmatcha.com. Include enough detail to identify the material. Because accounts are not required, additional information may be needed to reasonably verify that you created the content or are otherwise entitled to make the request.

Children

MR MATCHA CLUB's public community is intended for people age 13 and older. People under 13 should not use community posting features or submit personal information. If you believe a child under 13 has submitted personal information, contact mrmatcha@mrmatcha.com so we can review the request.

California privacy

California privacy laws may provide additional rights depending on whether they apply to MR MATCHA and the information involved. MR MATCHA CLUB does not sell personal information or use personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. You may contact mrmatcha@mrmatcha.com with a privacy request or question.

Changes

We may update this notice as MR MATCHA CLUB changes, including when we add or change service providers, moderation tools, analytics, retention practices, or legal requirements. The current version posted here applies to current use of the Club.