MonB4V

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I have seen something called Te'J, its an Ethiopian honey drink, since it has hops in it I'm not sure if its beer or a sub category of mead. Does anyone know? Has anyone ever made it or seen a recipe, I'd like to give it a try.

passedpawn

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From what I've read, there isn't normally any barley in it so I'd say it is not a beer. Mead is where I think it would fall.

__________________
Now there's some take delight in the carriages a rolling
and others take delight in the hurling and the bowling
but I take delight in the juice of the barley
and courting pretty fair maids in the morning bright and early

BillyGHusk

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I believe it is made with Teff, instead of barley.

or not....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tej

here is even more....

http://www.pitt.edu/~kloman/tej.html#making

My wife and I have a son from Ethiopia so I find this especially interesting.

biochemedic

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T'ej is an Ethiopian drink, and is indeed a form of mead...it uses honey only as a fermentable. It does *not,* however, have hops in it. T'ej uses parts of a woody bush like plant called GESHO as the flavoring.

Gesho is somewhat hard to come by...I actually have some that I haven't used yet, and had been able to get after some waiting from a place called Brundo spices...it's somewhat confusing because even they call it 'hops' on their website, but it's gesho, not humulus lupulus!

The gesho can be called by different names depending on what part of the plant you're referring to (inchet or kitel depending on whether you're referring to the sticks or leaves, respectively).

I'd recommend these links:
This one is a nice primer on T'ej by a professor at Pitt University.
Also, you might want to search at http://www.brewboard.com and http://forum.northernbrewer.com -- I've found threads on T'ej on both of them. Also, check out good old Google...you'll come up with a variety of sites that have a hodgepodge of info...

There's a lot of conflicting/differing information on how to make T'ej...varying amounts of the differing kinds of gesho, differing instructions on how to add them, advice to use natural fermentations, etc., etc. Making a batch of T'ej using a hybrid of these has been on my "to do" list for a couple of years now...I guess I should get off my a$$ and do it!!!

MonB4V

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biochemedic I agree you need to make some and let us all know how it goes. I'm intrigued and i kind of want to give it a shot.

strat_thru_marshall

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I know a guy that makes this.

He mixes honey and water in a jar, covers it with a damp cloth and lets it sit out on his countertop until wild yeast ferments it out. He doesnt sanitize anything, shakes the jar up a couple times a day, and sometimes adds fresh fruit.

He claims its awesome, but his recipe = oxidized funk to me.

homebrewer_99

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WIKI DEF: Tej (Amharic: ጠጅ, pronounced [ˈtʼədʒ]) is a mead or honey wine brewed and consumed in Ethiopia. It is flavored with the powdered leaves and twigs of gesho (Rhamnus prinoides), a hops-like bittering agent which is a species of buckthorn.

Technically, this would be a "metheglin" because of the addition of herbs/spices.

__________________
HB Bill

biochemedic

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Hmmm...I do have a gallon and a few quarts of honey left from last year's harvest purchase...I'd been thinking of a peach melomel, but perhaps I will bust out that gesho...

MonB4V

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Where did you get your gesho and how much would you use?

biochemedic

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I got my gesho from Brundo (see my original post) spices...as to your second question: That's The Question! I've read lots of varying amounts per gallon, so I'm going to re-read all the notes I have from when I was thinking about this before, and make a decision. I will very likely go ahead and brew this, and eventually post results...