Cocayusa – Possibly the Most Original Cola in the World – Founded 2026

Cocayusa is not a startup looking for a market gap. Cocayusa is the result of two decades of conflict with a system. A system that decides which plants are “old” and which suddenly become “new.” A system that protects industrial products while regulating traditional plants. And an entrepreneur who refused to simply accept that.

2006 – The Beginning in the Living Room

In 2006, Joshua van Dijk and his parents Johannes and Susanne founded the brand Tausendkraut. Not with investors. Not with grants. In his parents’ living room. It all started on eBay.

They were the first to bring Jiaogulan tea to Germany, a plant used in Asia for centuries, known as the “herb of immortality.” Demand was there. The company grew. In 2009, Tausendkraut GmbH was founded. More space. More products. First employees. Several relocations for warehouse, shipping, and office.

Then came the reality of European food policy. Authorities showed up. Jiaogulan tea was classified as Novel Food and therefore “prohibited.”

Novel Food – When History Does Not Count

The EU Novel Food Regulation states that foods not consumed to a significant degree in the EU before 1997 require special authorization. It does not matter whether they have been used for centuries in South America, Asia, or Africa. What matters is only this: Was it sold here?

Jiaogulan tea was banned. For a young company, this was not a minor setback. It was a shock. Joshua started over. With other teas, herbs, superfoods, supplements, cosmetics. But the pattern repeated itself.

2014 – Criminal Investigation Police

In 2014, even the criminal investigation police of Mosbach appeared at the door. The accusation: selling hemp tea, CBD tea made from cannabis leaves and flowers, also classified as Novel Food and potentially containing THC. Today cannabis is legalized in Germany. At that time it was strictly prohibited, which explains the involvement of the criminal police.

Later, more borderline cases followed. Cistus. Chanca Piedra. Artemisia annua. Blue Lotus. And years later even Chaga mushroom chunks, a native tree fungus that Ötzi the Iceman reportedly carried with him. All Novel Food.

The fact that chaga was widely distributed in Europe as a coffee alternative during and after World War II did not count. It was considered an exceptional situation.

The central question remained: Since when are plants thousands of years old considered “new,” while highly processed industrial products are taken for granted?

2015 – Guayusa and the Rainforest

In 2015, Joshua encountered a plant that changed everything: guayusa. A caffeine-rich leaf from the Ecuadorian Amazon, traditionally cultivated by Kichwa communities in biodiverse chakra systems. In 2016, he founded the startup Matchachin.

With support from German development cooperation, a 200,000 euro funded project was launched in the rainforest. The goal: sustainable, organic-certified guayusa cultivation with Indigenous families.

Again, authorities showed up. Guayusa was also declared Novel Food. But this time Joshua was not alone. The government of Ecuador supported the project. He participated in an economic breakfast in Berlin with Ecuador’s former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner and a delegation of the German government. German development agencies stood behind the initiative. Skilled lawyers accompanied the case. Joshua discovered a legal loophole. After intense negotiations, the sales ban was lifted. Guayusa tea may now be sold under the designation “extracts of Ilex guayusa.”

In a ceremony in the Ecuadorian rainforest, the Yachaks, the spiritual teachers and healers of the Kichwa, appointed Joshua as their spokesperson in Europe. He gave them a promise: to make guayusa successful and secure sustainable income for their communities.

2019 – The Energy Tea and Market Logic

In 2019, Joshua developed the “Guayusa Energy Tea” in a glass bottle. Success followed. Twice he appeared on German television with his flavorful and highly stimulating drink. Once on VOX in the startup show “The Tastiest Idea in Germany,” and once on Kabel1 in “Abenteuer Leben.” There were radio interviews and newspaper features. The startup was celebrated in the scene. The drink was listed at Rewe and Edeka.

Then came COVID. The energy crisis. Rising production costs. And a structural problem: despite its success, almost no one knew guayusa. The product disappeared from the market. Not because of quality. But because visibility and market power are stronger than substance.

2025 – Chaga and a Nighttime Realization

In 2025, chaga mushroom was classified as Novel Food. Joshua lay awake at night thinking about the regulation and about his promise to the Kichwa. The disappointment was heavy.

Why had guayusa not succeeded long term?
Why must everything require a fight?
Why is everything good declared forbidden?

He was frustrated. It felt unfair.

Then he remembered a cola he had tried years earlier: Simply Cola by Red Bull. Disappointing in taste. But on the ingredient list: coca leaf extract. He had stood in the supermarket thinking: How can that be legal? Before 1997 no one had marketed coca extract in the EU. And coca equals cocaine, does it not?

So how did Red Bull manage it?

Coca – The Most Forbidden Leaf in the World

Joshua began researching. He discovered the structure behind the global coca extract market. He uncovered the de facto monopoly of The Coca-Cola Company on decocainized coca extract.

At the same time, he realized he had not enjoyed the original Coca-Cola for years. The formula seemed to have changed. Less depth. Possibly less coca. More sugar. Fewer expensive essential oils. A flat, slightly oily aftertaste.

And suddenly everything connected.

Coca. Indigenous communities in South America without real participation in the legal global market.
Guayusa. Indigenous communities in the Amazon working sustainably, but without global demand.

Two plants. Two Indigenous roots. Two structural imbalances. Why not combine them?

The Birth of Cocayusa

Joshua knew he had found the missing link to solve his guayusa problem. He needed to combine the most caffeine-rich leaf in the world with the most forbidden leaf in the world.

And he was not the first. An archaeological find in Bolivia dated to around 500 CE documented a shamanic burial with coca leaves and other psychoactive plants, including guayusa. Early trade networks between Andes and Amazon. Cocayusa once existed.

The Search for Legal Coca

Joshua searched for legal, fully decocainized coca extract. Not on the shadow market. Not in a gray zone. But transparently.

He found a partner, a company cooperating with Nasa Indigenous communities in Colombia to produce fully decocainized coca extract. Unfortunately the project was in startup phase and stalled. The plant had been closed. The Nasa had returned to selling coca to cartels. Political pressure from the United States had contributed to shutting down legal cultivation initiatives in 2025.

But Coca-Cola was allowed to continue. Welcome to the world of conspiracy theories.

And once again, did the empire prevail?

Joshua did not give up. He became a “stalker.” And he achieved the impossible. Deep within the Indigenous underground of South America, he found a connection to the rebels in Colombia. As spokesperson of the Kichwa, there was a path. A video call with the initiator of the project was arranged.

Twice Joshua sat in front of the screen. No one on the line. No reply to his messages or emails. Then a third attempt. A video call. Audio only. No image. After an hour, something seemed to click. They would review him and his request.

Three weeks later, another video call. This time with video. The breakthrough. Joshua received a very long NDA to sign. An NDA, a Non Disclosure Agreement, is a legally binding confidentiality agreement that protects the exchange of sensitive information between parties.

A few days later, the doors opened and Joshua could hardly believe it. They offered him coca. Coca without a warrant. Fully decocainized coca extract.

For the first time in a long time, coca could be imagined outside the monopoly.

A battle may have been lost back then, but not the war. The rebellion went underground, regrouping and reorganizing. The cards are being reshuffled. Joshua and Cocayusa are one of the new cards in the game of games.

Dr. Cola – It Becomes Magical

During the Matchachin years, Joshua met a man known in the industry as “Dr. Cola.” For more than 45 years, he had developed cola recipes, base concentrates, and flavor systems for a major international corporation. His creations are consumed worldwide.

But in all those decades, he had never had access to one ingredient: coca.

When Joshua told him in January 2026 about Cocayusa and asked whether he would join the project to create an original cola made from guayusa, real kola nut, and legal coca extract, he was immediately enthusiastic. For him as well, it was a dream fulfilled. Dr. Cola prefers to remain anonymous. Recently retired, he wanted this formula to be his masterpiece.

In February 2026, formulation work began. By summer 2026, the cola that changed everything was born.

Three Plants – Three Indigenous Origins

Coca from South America, in cooperation with Nasa communities in Colombia.
Guayusa from the Ecuadorian Amazon, cultivated in chakra systems with Kichwa families.
Kola historically from West Africa, a plant of ritual and social significance.

Cocayusa is not just a beverage. It is an attempt to bring botanical history back from industrial abstraction.

The Political Dimension

Cocayusa asks simple but uncomfortable questions.

Why are thousand-year-old plants considered “new” while highly processed industrial products are normal?
Why do Indigenous communities not benefit from their sacred plants?
Why was coca politicized, kola industrialized, and guayusa ignored?

Cocayusa is not a protest movement. But it is a counter-model. A real cola not based on isolated caffeine. Not on monopoly structures. Not on synthetic shortcuts. Not on marketing myths. But on real plants. Real cooperation. Real history.

Inside Cocayusa

Founded in 2026. After 20 years of confrontation with regulation, authorities, monopolies, and markets.

Cocayusa is possibly the most original cola in the world. Not because it is old. But because it returns to the beginning. To coca. To kola. To guayusa. To real cola taste. To real plant-based effect. Without compromise.

And to the question of who plants truly belong to.