Tej (Ethiopian Honey Wine)

Ethiopia • Regional Dish • Beverage

Tej (Ethiopian Honey Wine)

Tej is Ethiopia's golden honey wine, fermented with gesho for a sweet, lightly bitter drink served at celebrations and shared meals.

Servings10
Prep Time20 min
Cook Time0 min
DifficultyAdvanced
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Instructions

  1. Wash and sanitize a large glass jar, fermentation vessel, spoon, strainer and any bottles you plan to use. Tej is rustic, but bacteria still shouldn't get an invitation.
  2. Add the honey and water to the jar. Stir well until the honey fully dissolves and the mixture looks evenly golden.
  3. Add the gesho entchet and gesho kitel, if using. The gesho gives tej its signature bitter, herbal balance and helps separate it from standard honey mead.
  4. If using wine yeast, sprinkle it over the surface and add the raisins. Let it sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently. For a more traditional wild-style fermentation, skip the yeast, but expect less predictable timing and flavor.
  5. Cover the jar with a clean cloth secured with a rubber band, or use a fermentation lid or airlock. Do not seal the jar tightly during active fermentation. Carbon dioxide needs somewhere to go, unless you were hoping to redecorate the ceiling with honey wine.
  6. Place the jar in a warm, dark spot, ideally around 68–78 F. Stir once daily with a sanitized spoon for the first 5–7 days.
  7. Let the tej ferment for 10–21 days, depending on your kitchen temperature and preferred flavor. Taste with a clean spoon after day 10. It should taste lightly alcoholic, honeyed, gently tangy and pleasantly bitter from the gesho.
  8. When the flavor tastes balanced, strain the tej through a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth into a clean jar or pitcher. Discard the gesho and sediment.
  9. Taste and adjust. If you want a sweeter tej, stir in the extra honey a little at a time. If it tastes too sweet, let it ferment a few more days before straining.
  10. Refrigerate after straining and serve chilled in small glasses, ideally berele-style glasses if available.

Cultural Context

Tej has a special place in Ethiopian food culture, showing up at celebrations, holidays, weddings and social gatherings. It’s often linked with tej houses and traditional berele glasses, the rounded, flask-like vessels that make the drink easy to spot. Its flavor comes from honey and gesho: honey brings floral sweetness, while gesho adds bitterness, structure and an herbal edge so the wine doesn’t fall flat. Because many versions rely on natural fermentation, each batch can taste a little different. Charm, with a small side of suspense. Served chilled with spicy stews, tibs, kitfo or dabo kolo, tej brings warmth and ceremony without needing a speech.

Fun Fact

Tej is compared to mead, but gesho gives it a distinctly Ethiopian identity. That bitter herbal note balances the honey, making the drink feel less like sweet wine and more like something with history, personality and a slightly mischievous social life.

Cook’s Tip

Gesho is the traditional Ethiopian ingredient that gives tej its distinctive bitter, herbal backbone. Without it, the drink becomes closer to a simple honey mead. If you can't find gesho, use a small amount of food-grade hops as a rough substitute, but the flavor will not be the same.

Fermentation time varies with temperature, honey, yeast activity and the amount of gesho. Warmer rooms speed things up; cooler rooms slow everything down. Discard the batch if you see fuzzy mold, smell rotten or putrid aromas, or notice anything that seems unsafe. Homemade fermented drinks can continue fermenting in bottles, so refrigerate after straining and avoid tightly sealing at room temperature unless you understand fermentation pressure control.

Trivia

Traditional Tej is often served in a berele, a rounded glass vessel with a narrow neck. The shape is so closely tied to the drink that seeing one on the table usually means honey wine is about to become everyone's business.

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