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Tej Manufacture

The process of making the Tej was described to us:

1. 1.Honey is mixed with hot water and left exposed outside in a pot for five days.
   

2. 2.After these five days, dried buckthorn leaf 'hops' are added, and mixed in.
   

3. 3.Then the mixture is exposed for another fifteen days.
   

4. 4.And it's ready. The mixture is strained, and certain higher qualities may be filtered to a greater or lesser extent.

Tej is served in a tall bottle filled from a large container. It is drunk from a specially shaped glass bottle, called a berele, which is filled from the tall bottle. This drinking bottle has a bulbous base and a narrow neck, with a wider lip above that. The bottle must be held in a particular way: the neck is held between the index finger at the front, and the thumb at the back, and the neck is braced by the middle, ring and little fingers at the back.

The alcoholic content varies  with where the Tej is made. Our informant suggested that 15% alcohol was a good Tej, but since it is an artisanal drink, this presumably varies quite a lot.