There are many kinds of traditional fermented beverages in Ethiopia. In everyday life people enjoy fermented beverages and particularly when having guests, they like to treat them to traditional alcoholic beverages. Tella, tej, areki, borde and shemeta are drinks that each household brews to treat guests.
Substrates for their production are from locally available raw materials. Therefore, the basic production method is the same, but the tastes may vary.
One of the most consumed fermented alcoholic beverages is tella, which is made mostly with barley but wheat, maize, sorghum, and teff are utilized depending on the region. Its production process shows the similarity to beer: addition of malt and gesho which has the same function as hops in beer.
Among various Ethiopian fermented alcoholic beverages, tella has many varieties in the various regions and is made with diverse cereals such as barley, wheat, maize, millet, sorghum, and teff. It is, by far, the most commonly consumed alcoholic beverage in Ethiopia. How the tella is produced differs among ethnic groups, and their tradition and economic situation affect the kind of cereals they utilize.
A clay container (jar), malt (bikil) that is prepared by grinding the dried germinated barley, maize, or wheat, gesho plant (Rhamnus prinoides) flour of barley(enkuro), kita and water are the main ingredients which are necessary to prepare Tella.
Tej is Ethiopia’s “honey wine” although it’s nothing like wine. Tej is made from fermenting honey and ‘gesho’ a shrub used in the same way hops are. The resulting drink is sweet, Smokey and probably like nothing you’ve had before. Best of all, Tej is drunk from traditional glasses that look like science beakers!
Tej is prepared from honey, water, and leaves of gesho (Rhamnus prinoides). Mix one part honey to three parts water, put in some stems and branches of gesho, and let it ferment for 5–6 weeks, removing the gesho after 2 weeks.
It is prepared from honey, water and leaves of Gesho (Rhamnus prenoides). Sometimes, widely for commercial purposes, mixture of honey and sugar could be used for its preparation. In cases where sugar is used as part of the substrate, natural food coloring is added so that the beverage attains a yellow color similar to that made from honey.
Areke is the other colorless distilled alcoholic beverage from fermentation products prepared in the same way as tella. There are different types of Areke in Ethiopia. Gibto and Kosso are among them. Most of the time, Ethiopian drink Habesha Areke for treating illness like stomachache and for drying bleeding at every parts of body. Additionally it gives high temperature for the whole body especially in rainy season.
Borde and shamita are the other Ethiopian traditional drinks which are not exactly alcoholic beverages but fermented low alcoholic beverages with a thick consistency consumed as a meal replacement in some districts. The preparation of borde is as follows: it is made from maize or wheat. A thick coarse paste of wheat or maize flour is roasted on a hot flat metal pan and cooled for 1 hour. Then it is thoroughly mixed with ground malt. The whole mixture is put into a jar and further blended with water and allowed to ferment at ambient temperature for 24 hours.
Shamita is prepared as follows: (1) barley is roasted on a flat metal pan until it turned light brown and ground finely; (2) barley flour, salt, ground linseed, and assorted spices are mixed together; (3) this mixture is mixed with water in a jar and then the jar is sealed tightly and allowed to ferment overnight at ambient temperature. Pepper is optionally added depending on the consumer’s preference.
Coffee is the other Ethiopian traditional drinks but with no alcoholic test. There are two kinds of coffees served readily in Addis Ababa: ‘jebena buna’ which is coffee prepared the traditional way and cafe coffee. ‘Jebena buna’ is coffee brewed in the traditional clay pot (known as a ‘jebena’). Most of the shops that serve coffee this way are also roasting and grinding the beans in small batches throughout the day.
A ‘jebena buna’ is a strong espresso type coffee served in a small glass. Most people will add a heaping spoonful or two of sugar, but never milk. These shops are littered throughout town so pop into one that looks busy (a signifier of good quality coffee). A ‘jebena buna’ usually costs 5 birr. The most popular coffee at a cafe is a ‘macchiato.’ Unlike a traditional Italian macchiato, macchiatos here are mostly milk with a little bit of coffee. Want a strong one? Ask for a ‘tikur macchiato.’
Juice is another favorite of Ethiopians and a regular breakfast at our neighborhood cafe. Juices in Ethiopia are thick and probably closer to what most people would think of as a smoothie. The only ingredients though are fruit, water and a bit of sugar. Everyone can tell the waiter which of the fresh juices you’d like and they arrive in beautiful layers.
