the word kombucha, SCOBY terminology in Japanese and English

[Guest guest]

Hi Folks,

Going through my files, I just came across an old post to a different

email group (the wild foods group) from many months ago where the

topic of kombucha randomly popped up in connection with infusions made

from real mushrooms, which deserve to be called " mushroom tea " , and

someone posted mildly disparaging remarks about kombucha in the

process of distinguishing it from the mushroom infusions they were

talking about. Pasted below is an excerpt from my post where I make

generic remarks about kombucha, nothing new to folks here, but I'm

sharing it with the list because some folks may find interest or

amusement in the part dealing with the lexicography of the word

" kombucha " . Hopefully this can be useful for linguistic reference

purposes, since it is such a confusing topic for many people,

especially non-speakers of Japanese.

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay

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[...]

I'm not a kombucha person myself, but some of my circles (I'm a

hardcore kefir person) overlap with the kombucha crowd, so it's a very

familiar topic for me. I've tried authentic kombucha and it's a

rather delicious fizzy sour beverage (happily only trace amounts of

alcohol for teetotallers like myself) that's also sometimes used in

vinegar-making. I can't make any claims for its health benefits

myself, but you'll find no shortgage of others who will if you google

around a bit for kombucha websites, email groups, etc. My impression

is that like most traditional fermented food items, it has profound

benefits, if for no other reason than being a good probiotic, but

given it's vast reputation in various cultures going back about 2000

years, it seems likely there's a bit more going on than ordinary

probiotics in this case, and there's a fairly substantive scientific

literature on its composition. It is, after all, one of the " three

K's " that pin down the bulk of humanity's non-alcoholic fermented food

traditions (Kefir, Kimchi, Kombucha--I believe there is a fourth " K "

that can be added to the list, but that'll be left to take up on

another occasion). The symbiosis of yeasts and bacteria has a long

tradition of intentional manipulation in human foods and is part of

the natural conditions for our species that would've factored into the

human food supply throughout our evolution. Further, the current

ecological hot topic of EM (Effective Microorganisms) is simply a more

powerful extension of everyday, familiar yeast/bacteria combos to

include phototropic bacteria that are less common in our modern

environment but interact with other microbes in very beneficial ways

that people are trying to harness and restore.

Like kefir " grains " , the kombucha " mushroom " is a SCOBY (symbiotic

culture of bacteria and yeasts) that exists as a biomass with a

polysaccharide substrate and will survive and propagate indefinitely;

kombucha definitely has no connection whatsoever to mushrooms other

than the fairly irrelevant fact yeasts are a subclass of fungi. It's

a classic misnomer coming from the vaguely " mushroomy " qualities of

the SCOBY.

Humorously, the name " kombucha " has the same pronunciation as a

Japanese word for a completely unrelated health drink, and the

Japanese name for kombucha is a misnomer corresponding to " mushroom

tea " (to be precise, " koucha-kinoko " or " black tea mushroom " ). It's

one of the strangest cross-linguistic name mix-ups you'll ever find.

If you're confused, and you should be, " kombucha " is a Japanese word,

but it doesn't mean the same thing as " kombucha " in English, even

though when people talk about kombucha they typically refer to it as a

Japanese name. " kombucha " in Japanese means kombu tea, namely a tea

made from the common sea vegetable kombu (generically the same as

kelp). This tea is made from powdered dried kombu and water, and

while it's not an especially common drink, the average Japanese person

would know what you're talking about if you said " kombucha " ; they

would imagine a tea made with kombu. The fact that a Japanese word is

used in English (and German, etc) to describe " mushroom tea " without

having any connection to the meaning of the modern Japanese word with

the same pronunciation appears to be an obscure historical matter.

Supposedly there was a Korean physician named something like " kombu "

who passed this Chinese or Tibetan discovery along to Japan circa 400

CE, hence giving rise to the current cross-linguistic homonym of

sorts. I can personally attest to the confusion when talking to a

Japanese person about kombucha, and it takes a few minutes to get on

the same page. I've also found some Japanese websites where a Japanese

person recounts an experience of trying a drink from a store labelled

" kombucha " and thinking it was kelp tea, only to be very surprised to

taste a vinegary carbonated beverage.

As a further curiosity, the Japanese word for kefir is

" youguruto-kinoko " or " yogurt mushroom " , in parallel to the " black tea

mushroom " of " koucha-kinoko " . At least they are consistent with

their misnomers and don't use the very ugly word " grains " . Much like

the current thriving global subcultures (no pun intended) of kefir and

kombucha home-brewers, I've been told " black tea mushroom " has been an

occasional craze in the alternative health world in Japan going back

to the 1960's. The idea is that people share their SCOBY's with each

other on a grass-roots level. By the way, there is very little

substance to concerns about " contamination with harmful germs " for

such a time-worn ferment as kombucha, and these warnings amount to

little more than modern microbe-phobia.

By the way, kelp tea is delicious! And alaria tea is even better!

Sea greens make great foundations for herb and spice teas...

[...]

[Guest guest]

,

I did a Medline search on kombucha earlier this week and found several

articles that showed beneficial effects from using KT.

One study showed detoxification from lead poisoning, another chromate

poisoning, the third showed reduced stress-related effects,

anti-oxidant, and hepato-protective effects, while the fourth showed

that mice that chronically drink KT live longer. To be clear, all 4

studies involved mices and not peoples.

If you're a registered Medscape user you can do a medline search from

the homepage. 3 of these are posted at the kombucha tea

group. If anyone wants, I'll post the entire summaries/abstracts here.

Terry P.

Anton wrote:

>

> I can't make any claims for its health benefits

> myself, but you'll find no shortgage of others who will if you google

> around a bit for kombucha websites, email groups, etc. My impression

> is that like most traditional fermented food items, it has profound

> benefits, if for no other reason than being a good probiotic, but

> given it's vast reputation in various cultures going back about 2000

> years, it seems likely there's a bit more going on than ordinary

> probiotics in this case, and there's a fairly substantive scientific

> literature on its composition.

[Guest guest]

> If you're a registered Medscape user you can do a medline search from

> the homepage.

What I would like to find is a service that would be able to provide subscribers

the full text articles that medline only offers to loan to university libraries,

etc..

Bruce

[Guest guest]

I was going to mention about this someday...

But already stated here.

Personally I have never tasted or tried Kombucha,yet sometimes kelp tea.

Black tea mushroom boom was,I think,in 1974 or 1975. It had been an era

of factory processed food in its past ten years and there were people

concerened about the occurrance of new type complaint of their health.

However Kombucha (Black tea mushroom)was on for a less than a year,

kombucha boom never came back to stage again here in Japan.

As I search kombucha on the internet, do not find much of supporting

infos anymore. Yet since that time on, we had been in search of healthy

food supplements.