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The Fabled Pour
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Country

Ethiopia

I have one sourced drink connected to Ethiopia. The label on each card says how: where it began, what the country is known for, what people drink there, or where the origin is disputed.

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Ethiopia on the world map. Boundaries are generalized Natural Earth data.

Drinks of Ethiopia

Signature drinks and regional ones, with the evidence behind each. A drink marked non-alcoholic has no alcohol in the traditional serve.

  • Illustration of Tej: cloudy yellowish and sweet, often effervescent, in a berele, a vase-shaped flask.

    Tej

    Ethiopia; tej houses, weddings and holidays

    IconicRegional drink

    A honey wine similar to mead, flavored and bittered with gesho. It is often poured from a berele, a vase-shaped flask or bottle. It is yellowish and cloudy, sweet and often effervescent.

    Wikipedia calls tej one of the oldest alcoholic beverages ever produced and says that before the 1900s only the king and those in his presence drank it, a claim the page itself tags as self-contradictory. It is served at festivals, weddings and holidays such as Enkutatash and Timkat, and sold in tej houses (tej bet). Sources disagree on strength, giving ranges from 7 to 18 percent.

    Made with: honey, water, gesho (Rhamnus prinoides).

    Confidence: mediumEvidence: en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab), orlandoweekly.com (opens in a new tab), en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)

Map data: Natural Earth, public domain.