About four months ago our adventure started with an idea to start a small Kombucha fermentation, which after experimentation and failed batches now resulted in the birth of Kinoko!
Mixing in some info from Wikipedia here:
Kombucha is a fermented, slightly alcoholic, lightly effervescent, sweetened black or green tea drink commonly consumed for its supposed health benefits* (although we drink it because we like its taste :D).
Kombucha is produced by fermenting sugared tea using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (the "SCOBY") commonly called a "mother" or "mushroom".
The microbial populations in a SCOBY vary. Although the SCOBY is commonly called "tea fungus" or "mushroom", it is actually "a symbiotic growth of acetic acid bacteria and osmophilic yeast species in a zoogleal mat [biofilm]". The living bacteria are said to be probiotic, one of the reasons for the popularity of the drink.
We have named Kinoko after the Japanese nameing of Kombucha: kōcha kinoko 紅茶キノコ, which means: Black Thee Mushroom. So Kinoko would be "Mushroom".
Kombucha and the blockchain - a match made in genesis
Kombucha has a funny similarity with blockchains: in order to create a fresh batch of Kombucha one always needs 1 part of "starter tea", which consists of a previously created batch of Kombucha. This feature "chains" all Kombucha together and can be compared to how in for example the Hive blockchain a previous block is linked in the signatures of transactions, by using the so-called "relblocknum".
Our "genesis" Kombucha was created by using Cultcha Kombucha, another local brewer, which is a bit more commercial, but also very much into spreading the Kombucha love. We had a phonecall with them and discovered they started their brewing from an original starter tea from Seattle in 2013. For now thats where our chain's trail stops, but we won't stop our research to discover the original genesis and history of the Kinoko "fork".
Kinoko Kombucha: Natural, Transparent, Opensource
Natural: Kinoko is made from pure ingredients
- Simon Levelt Loose Leaf Biological Black Tea (Ceylon/Darjeeling)
- Wester Raw Cane Sugar
- Local, boiled Water from the tap (no fluor, no chlorine added in Netherlands)
- Part of previous Kombucha batch
Transparent: All our processes and sensor registrations are logged on the Hive chain.
Our fermentation room has hourly logging of temperature, humidity and air pressure, which is logged onto the Hive blockchain. Additionally we log our recipes, bottling and batch creations too. You can find those by going to a block explorer and check all customjson posts. https://hiveblocks.com/@kinoko
In the future we will parse some of those loggings into shiny graphs on our website https://kinoko.rocks
Opensource: We intend to be opensource and publish, next to our sensor readings and recipes, in depth "how to's" on how to make your own "fork" of (Kinoko) Kombucha, so stay tuned for our posts right here on the Hive chain. As we intend to foremost serve a local market, by opensourcing our standards it will be interested to see Kinoko decentrally spread across the planet :) Obviously there is a MLM scheme involved so, the earlier you join, the more benefits you reap. LOL / SARC.
Locally grown & locally distributed:
Kinoko Kombucha produces a weekly batch which is currently distributed amongst family and friends, and early adopters. We have also visited some befriended caterers and local shops with samples and hope to find some distributers through that sooner then later!
Ordering currently takes place via central zuckerberganio's messenger system, but as said, we only ship locally (by bike) but are open for take-out orders or occasional drive-by's if we are in the neighbourhood.
That's it for now... Stay tuned for recipes and howto's!
Please, join the Kinoko family on the web!
- follow us on Hive: @kinoko
- our web (dutch atm.): https://kinoko.rocks
- fbpage: https://facebook.com/@kinokokombucha
- messenger: https://m.me/kinokokombucha