To start, I wish everyone a happy new year! May 2022 bring us the strength and courage needed to tackle the existential roadblocks set by the status quo, and the wisdom to lay forth a path towards a new paradigm based on collaboration and abundance for all.
Update May 8, 2022: Added a disclaimer about what I learned in the past few months using this kit
I wanted to share my experience of using this Oyster mushroom grow kit using my left-over coffee grounds for the past month. As a lover of both coffee, fungi, and waste, I want to share how this trifecta offers us many opportunities converging good actions, wisdom and w(h)ealth!
This grow-kit was purchased from Fungi Factory and is one of my favourite ways to upcycle waste coffee grounds, by using the latter as a substrate to grow gourmet oyster Pleurotus mushrooms, thereby adding value to a resource which would otherwise be discarded in the landfill. By doing so, we’re tackling multiple problems at once in a cascading fashion, including:
(1) we’re upcycling of coffee waste, (2) homegrowing cultivation of organic, nutritious, (non-animal) proteins, aka mushrooms, (3) a relatively simple and scalable method to create wealth locally (aka creating jobs) and contributing to a healthier soil ecosystem! Keep in mind, this is a work-in-progress and is subject to updates as we grow along! Therefore, I’ll focus on the first two points but will link to insightful resources for the entrepreneurial folks who wish to take it to the next-level 😉
My goal is to present you with a portfolio of opportunities available when we leverage the intelligence of Nature, and when we work with her to solve the problems we’re facing.
Background
This journey was inspired to me a few years ago (original blog post) by one of my mentors Gunter Pauli, the Belgian zen entrepreneur, thought-leader, and pioneer of the Blue Economy. The main point of this model is to leverage locally available resources and creating a portfolio of bio-inspired solutions to the problems at hand. This perception shifts the concept of waste from “garbage to be disposed of” to “untapped resource waiting for attention”, as well as improving on the traditional approach of focusing all attention on one activity (core business), to one of creating multiple cashflows and thinking in terms of ecosystems. This mindset upgraded my worldview at the time and enabled me to observe a wealth of opportunities in each a cup of coffee (and tea!), and to find ground-breaking ideas quite literally under our nose! 🙂
Additionally, these ideas were brought to me during a crucial time when I was graduating from my BA and couldn’t figure out (a) what career path I wanted, (b) how to earn money without sacrificing my soul and the environment, and (c) work on something that inspires me, aka working on the cutting edge. The opportunity magically presented itself in the form of fungi. Although I had already been an admirer of Paul Stamets, Gunter’s work has only increased my love and respect for the fungi world.
The Blue Economy principles serve as a bridge from the current fragile, materialistic, clever but death-centric paradigm to a resilient, whole-istic, regenerative and biophilic approach inspired by the billion years old biological processes which have been polished over aeons. Fungi have effectively been Terra-forming the Earth for billions of years and we may have a few things to learn from them!
The microcosm of Fungi!
Learning objectives:
- Learning how to upcycle coffee-grounds to grow oyster mushrooms
- Reviewing grow kit by Fungi Factory (Utrecht, Netherlands)
- Sharing experiences and resources
Did you know?
- One cup of coffee contains less than 1% of the coffee beans used to make it. 99% of the coffee beans used to brew is thus thrown out. Consider the herculean supply-chain efforts it took to grow the coffee on the farm, the labour to process, and then ship it to Europe! Additionally, the coffee berry pulp, called Cascara, is typically discarded at the production site, even though it’s a super-food comparable with Acai berries. Companies like Coffee Pixels leverage this to make healthy, edible coffee-chocolate bars, or you could make tea (and thus kombucha) with it as well!
- In my previous article, I discuss in more details the many value-added products derived from coffee grounds after used for brewing a cup!
- Coffee grounds are a nutritious biomass containing various antioxidents, the mycelium, (essentially, the fungal root network) loves coffee grounds and releases enzymes to use as its substrate.
- From my exprience, it makes a difference to get bio (organic) coffee over cheaper ones. Not sure why, but I suspect its due to the use of antifungicidal to grow cheap coffee.
Review: Grow-kit in a nutshell
- The growkit is a plastic container with a lid, a few small sized holes covered with breathable tape and a 100g bag of oyster mycelium spawn (the starter material). The only extra thing required is fresh coffee grounds, attention and some time!
- I used the grow kit made by Fungi Factory, a small company based in Utrecht, Netherlands, which cost me 15€. They offer tons of helpful resources to get started for free! on their website (in Dutch, but you can translate it easily).
- The process is simple: first, you mix the coffee grounds and spawn together to kickstart the growth. Once a week, I add my collected coffee grounds to the box until it will be 90% full. Once the box is full and the mycelium has colonized the substrate, it will seek light in order to reproduce by producing fruits. Yes, mushrooms are to the mycelium what an apple is to an apple-tree. Out of the holes on the sides, it will grow and be ready for harvest. What’s great is that you can start a new cycle by taking a small chunk of colonized substrate and start a new box. It’s a gift that keeps on giving!
Contents of the Grow Kit 
Oyster spawn starter 
Starter spawn mixed with 1st coffee grounds layer: break down spawn and mix well with grounds 
A week later: good growth, no contamination! 
Week later: rinse & repeat 
Although I try to keep clean, this is the reality! Still, the candle technique works! 
3rd Layer. I try to flatten each layer to add density to the substrate 
Notice the uncolonized spot in the middle. Pay attention to how much of your coffee is colonized. Don’t feed more than it can chew, or else, mold will seize the day! 
Beautiful, soft and fluffy clouds of mycelium! About 70% of the box full after 4 weeks. 
Probably two more layers left. After that, we’ll keep the lid closed to let the mushrooms grow from the side holes.
Overview
In the following section, I will describe the setup I’m using and outline the process in more detail. In the future, I may update this article to add further tips.
Coffee type: I use the Barista coffee beans from Simon & Levelt here in the Netherlands and use a manual grinder and a French press to drink my coffee. At 30€/kilo, this organic coffee tastes great, and the oyster mycelium love it as well! I use btween 3-4 tablespoon per brew, (15g~20g, dry). These beans offer the best results in mycelium growth I’ve seen, ever! (Tip: it pays to go for bio/organic!)
After drinking my delicious cups of coffee, I collect the grounds in a jar which I store in the freezer to avoid mold contamination. I do this 4-5 times per week until my jar is full. Once the jar is full, I take it out of the freezer and I thaw the grounds to re-brewing them. Basically, I carefully pour boiled water in the jar to thaw the frozen grounds and transfer them in the French press until everything is transferred. At this point, I add in boiling water to brew the coffee to kill any germs that may be present. This is important because mold is Enemy #1 of your mycelium culture. [In theory, you could also directly pour freshly brewed coffee grounds into the box, however I sometimes leave my coffee out for long periods, and thus prefer my current method to decrease the risk of contamination.]
At this stage, I let the grounds brew for 2-3mins, and mix it with a spoon. Meanwhile, I prep the surface where the operation will take place, aka my dining table, by wiping the surface and keeping it clean.
Usually, this step requires a lab environment, with air-filters, pressurized rooms and sterilized surfaces to avoid mold contamination as much as possible. Since I don’t live in a lab, I use the following precautions:
- Clean table surface (wipe the table, avoid clutter), wash hands and utensils (spoon)
- I light on two standing candles next to the closed box to create an air flow (hot air goes up) to repel any bacteria from landing on my mycelium
Once everything is setup, first, I drain the hot water from the french press in my kithcen sink (I don’t recommend drinking this, although you could). The grounds are now freshly steaming and germ-free, and we can proceed to open the lid of our box.
Once I open the lid and snap a photo for my journaling, I observe if all is going well (check for green mold spots if any). If all looks well, it should look like a beautiful white snowy field 🙂
Scoop the grounds into the box and pack them flat. Avoid transferring the liquid, and focus only on the coffee grounds. Grounds should be hot but not burning hot, otherwise they will kill the mycelium mat right underneath. Last but not least, I snap a photo, say goodbye and close the lid for another week :’)
I keep a log with the date, coffee amount added, and and a photo of each session. As for the box, I leave it on the shelf of my living room at ambient temperatures. So far, I’m amazed by how much it’s growing without any contamination. If you do find green spots, as long as they’re not spread out, you can scoop them out and hope it doesn’t grow back (sprinkling salt on the spot may also prevent regrowth). Luckily, this hasn’t happened to me so far.
I’m currently at my fifth refill since starting on December 12, with approximately 1,5kg in total (keep in mind, wet grounds weigh almost double their dry weight). I probably can fill it only once or twice more maximum at this point. Then, I will have to (A) either take apart a small chunk to start a new colony in a different box, or (B) just leave it as it is and wait until the fruiting stage takes place. For fruiting to occur, we need to simulate Fall conditions, that is, slightly cooler temps (15ºC) and light. This is why the mushrooms will grow where the holes are located to seek for light.
Harvest & Cooking
Although I haven’t reached this stage yet, Fungi Factory offers the following tips on harvesting: harvest when the heads of the mushrooms are flat. Once ready, just cut with a knife and seal the hole with tape again.
Oyster mushrooms are great source of nutrition, inclding protein, Vitamin D and taste like chicken. My favourite way to cook them is just stir-fried with butter, garlic, salt & pepper a hint of soy sauce. You can serve them as is, or with spaghetti. Oyster mushrooms are my favourite meat-alternative option, as they taste like chicken and full of proteins. Much better alternative than monocultured/GMO soybeans if you ask me!
Conclusion
The grow-kit is a simple, yet effective tool to upcycle coffee waste at home and a constant source of inspiration and wonder! Having grown mycelium more than once before, I’m amazed at how I’ve avoided contamination so far: good batch of spawn, luck, a systematic ritual, good quality coffee, vortexed water, probably all of the above have some influence. It’s a great gift for someone who loves coffee, gardening and wants to make a small impact. It’s also great for eco entrepreneurs because of the epiphanies it will unleash: “You mean, that I can collect coffee from my neighbourhood (free), use it to grow mushrooms ($$) relatively simply, in a short time, and the residual left-over can be used as a soil amendment, and even as feed for chicken, pigs and cows ($)?!”. It’s a Blue Economy 101 case-study and one that’s already led to thousands of mushroom farms across the world.
To end this article, I want to share the story of Chido Govera, who grew up an orphan in Zimbabwe and maaged to escape from hell by learning how to grow mushrooms from waste at 11-years old. Since then, she’s inspired many local women to become mushroom entrepreneurs and bread-winners. She’s a true inspiration and a template to show how leveraging Nature’s wonderful techniques can lead us to emancipate and become sovereign while building a better soil for the future. Chido continues to teach people how to grow mushrooms via her Future of Hope Foundation.
Further resources to learn more about mushroom farming:
- Factory Fungi – Manufacturer of the Growkit I used, based in the Utrecht, Netherlands
- Blue Economy Case studies – Over 112+ incredible inspiring case-studies!
- Ekofungi, founded by offers lots of resources for entrepreneurs to start a local mushroom business
- Chido Govera’s mushroom grower network foundation in Africa
- Formation Economie Bleue avec Gunter Pauli & Idriss Aberkane (Francais)
Update from 08/05/2022 – What I learned from the past months
While I did end up harvesting one flush of Oysters, it was followed by a few failed batches, which I thought was worth sharing a few insights:
- Hygiene: while I originally kept hygiene to a minimum, it has since backfired later on: adding coffee grounds that were 1day+ old resulted in mold contamination of my batch. The key to avoiding contamination, I now found, is to transfer the coffee grounds to the bucket as soon as possible after my french press is emptied, preferably while still warm.
- Too much water: when transferring to the bucket, make sure most of the water is strained. Previous contamination was also fueled by pools of water on the surface creating anaerobic environments.
- Heat: I got an infrared heating mat to use under my bucket, which keeps the temps around 20-25ºC. Noticed more consistent and faster growth of the mycelium as before (also temps are higher now in the Spring). When it was cooler, the mycelium took more time to develop, leaving mold a chance to grow and compete.
- Smell: as always, trust your smelling instincts. If it smells funky or weird or downright bad, then it’s time to say goodbye and restart. as tempting as it is to keep a chunk, I’ve learned the hard way that it’s often easier to start over clean.
Quiet Eccentric 