Tella (drink)
Tella or Talla ( Amharic ጠላ), Oromo farso , Tigrinya suwa (ሱዋ), is a type of beer in Ethiopia and Eritrea . It is traditionally made from the millet types teff and sorghum , depending on the region, barley , wheat or maize are also used, and spices can also be added. The dried, ground leaves of the African buckthorn are used as an additive to fermentation . Tella is often stored in vessels during fermentation, the inside of which has previously been smoked with wood. That and the occasional addition of bread give Tella a smoky aroma. Since tella is mostly made at home, the alcohol content of the beer fluctuates between 2 and 4 percent by volume in the unfiltered, viscous state. Clear, filtered tella contains 5-6% alcohol by volume.
Tella is used as an everyday drink and is often offered in Tella houses ( tellabet ). These are local meeting points and are usually located in normal residential buildings. Tej honey wine is more expensive than Tella and is valued as an earlier drink in the upper classes. Comparable types of beer in neighboring countries are Merisa in Sudan and Pombe in East Africa . Also Dolo from Burkina Faso is made from millet.
Web links
- Ruth Selinus: The Traditional Foods of the Central Ethiopian Highlands (research report no. 7). 1971, EthnoMed
- Harry Kloman: T'alla Tell-All. Ethiopian Food
- Traditional Alcoholic Beverages from Ethiopia , LISSANonline.com
- Boozing it up in Ethiopia , GADLING.com