Kafka added timestamps to it's messages back some time around 0.10.x It's handy to have these so the server can compact more reliably, and so KSQL doesn't throw up when reading messages produced by fs2-kafka. Useful links: [The original KIP](https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/KAFKA/KIP-32+-+Add+timestamps+to+Kafka+message) [The JIRA ticket](https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-3025) [The github PR with the change](https://github.com/apache/kafka/pull/764)