Tella

For other uses, see Tella (disambiguation).

Teff and sorghum, Tella grains

Tella or talla (Amharic ጠላ; Oromo: farsoo, Tigrinya: siwa) is a traditional beer from Ethiopia. It is brewed from various grains, typically teff and sorghum. Depending on region, barley, wheat, or corn may be used; spices can also be added. Dried and ground shiny-leaf buckthorn leaves are used for fermentation. Due to the addition of bread and use of a fermentation vessel which has been smoked over dried olive wood or Abyssinian rose wood, tella may have a smoky flavour. The alcohol content of unfiltered Tella is usually around 2–4 Volume percent, filtered tella contains about 5–6 vol%.

Tella is often home-brewed. It may be offered in tella houses (tellabet), usually in regular homes, where people meet and talk to each other.

Tella was commonly used for kiddush by the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews). Tella was used because wine was often unavailable. Due to the availability of wine in Israel, Ethiopian-Israelis generally use wine for kiddush instead of tella.

See also

• The Tigrayan Siwa (beer) culture
• Tej, an Ethiopian and Eritrean honey wine
• List of Ethiopian dishes and foods
• Eritrean cuisine

External links

• Ethnomed Ethiopian foods
• T’alla Tell-All - Ethiopian Food
• Traditional Alcoholic Beverages from Ethiopia, LISSANonline.com
• Boozing it up in Ethiopia, GADLING.com
• On Tella, the Ethiopian beer, in .pdf format