Tej is a mead

Mead

Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...

 or honey wine that is brewed and consumed in Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. It is flavored with the powdered leaves and twigs of gesho (Rhamnus prinoides), a hops-like

Hop (plant)

Humulus, Hop, is a small genus of flowering plants native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The female flowers of H. lupulus are known as hops, and are used as a culinary flavoring and stabilizer, especially in the brewing of beer...

 bittering agent that is a species of buckthorn

Buckthorn

The Buckthorns are a genus of about 100 species of shrubs or small trees from 1-10 m tall , in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae...

. Tej is usually homemade, but throughout Ethiopia it is available in bars called tej betoch (literally, "tej houses").

A sweeter, less-alcoholic version called berz, aged for a shorter time, is also made. The traditional vessel for drinking tej is a rounded vase-shaped container called a berele, which looks like a Florence flask

Florence flask

A Florence flask is a type of flask used as an item of laboratory glassware. It can be used as a container to hold solutions of chemicals. A Florence flask has a round body with a single long neck and with either a round or a flat bottom...

. Tej has a deceptively sweet taste that masks its high alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

 content, which varies greatly according to the length of fermentation

Fermentation (food)

Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...

.

External links

• All About Tej
• "Honey Wine" in Every Ethiopian Language
• Sheba Te'j Honey Wine available for purchase in the United States from Brotherhood Winery.