Indulgences

1. ጠጅ

   tej

   Tej (honey wine)

   Usage

   A yellow drink fermented from honey and water; adding the gesho plant changes both its flavour and its strength. ⚠ The alcohol content varies widely with the recipe — it can be sweet and easy to drink yet strong

2. ጠላ

   tela

   Tella (home-brewed barley beer)

   Usage

   A cloudy home brew of barley and gesho with a flatbread of millet or teff added to the mash. Around 2–4% alcohol. It is drinkable about three days after brewing and gets stronger the longer it stands

3. አረቄ

   areqe

   Areki (distilled grain spirit)

   Usage

   A colourless distilled spirit. The name goes back to Arabic araq ("distilled"), shared with related drinks across the Middle East. Also called katikala. ⚠ Far stronger than tej or tella, and home-distilled batches vary in strength

4. ብርዝ

   birz

   Birz (part-fermented honey drink)

   Usage

   Tej drawn off before the fermentation has finished — sweeter, and lower in alcohol than the finished drink. ⚠ Lower, not zero — it is not an option for someone avoiding alcohol

5. ጌሾ

   gesho

   Gesho (bittering plant used in brewing)

   Usage

   A shrub native to Ethiopia and southern Africa, added when brewing tella and tej. It plays the role hops play in European beer. It grows between 1,400 and 3,200 m

6. ቢራ

   bira

   Bira (beer)

   Usage

   Factory-brewed beer, as distinct from traditional tella. The difference is that it is made with hops rather than gesho

7. ጠጅ ቤት

   tej bet

   Tej bet (honey wine house)

   Usage

   A house serving tej. If you see these two words on a sign, that is what is inside. Some have live music

8. ጠላ ቤት

   tela bet

   Tella bet (home-brew beer house)

   Usage

   A house that brews and serves its own tella. Usually smaller and more local than a tej bet

9. ሲጋራ

   sigara

   Sigara (cigarette)

   Usage

   A cigarette; also spelled ሲጃራ. ⚠ Smoking indoors in public places is prohibited by law in Ethiopia, so check before lighting up inside a café or hotel

10. ትምባሆ

    timbaho

    Timbaho (tobacco)

    Usage

    Tobacco as the leaf or the material, borrowed ultimately from Spanish tabaco; also written ትምባኾ or ትንባሆ. For an individual cigarette the word is ሲጋራ

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