Te'j

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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.
 
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.

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.
 
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!!!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.

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

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...
 
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...

Did you do it?
 
I found this
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=51538

and this
http://www.pitt.edu/~kloman/tej.html

to be helpful.

Also, I'm exchanging messages with one of my best friends who grew up in Ethiopia. She's actually making 5gal of tej right now, I sent her my basic plan, she should get back to me soon.

my message:
Add to a 1gallon bottle:
1 gal water
2.5 pounds raw honey http://amzn.to/ey4Rff
two handfuls of gesho sticks

ferment for two weeks, stir occasionally, then remove gesho. let it ferment for up to two weeks more until fermentation is almost done (taste for desired level of sweetness) then bottle in plastic bottles and place in the fridge and drink as desired.

That should give me a tej that falls around 8.6% alcohol, and I could always bump up the alcohol % with more honey. From what I've read, most people suggest bottling and drinking it before fermentation is completely done and don't worry about it being super clear. Any suggestions?
 
Response from my friend:

Sounds good..I add in honey three weeks in as well and then distill before bottling it only cause I'm experimenting with the color. But use the best quality honey you can find. The one you linked should work fine. And you are right don't add any other yeast. Mine usually is around 7.5 percent (still experimenting) but my mom makes hers much stonger. Also it will keep on fermenting even after bottling unless you kill the process.
 
So I just got a copy of "Exotic Ethiopian Cooking" as a gift (good thing, as it's going for a goodly amount on Amazon). I've heard it's one of the best Ethiopian cookbooks out there and I'm slowly trying stuff from it. It's a quirky cookbook and I wish some things had been more polished.

That said, it does have several t'ej recipes that I want to produce and will transcribe here:

Exotic Ethiopian Cooking said:
HYDROMEL OR HONEY WINE
T'ej

Utensils:
Small wooden barrel
Earthenware or large glass container
Medium cooking pot strainer

Ingredients:
1.5 cups woody hops (gesho)
32 oz honey
1 gallon water

Preparation:
Mix honey with water and put in a deep container. Store fore three days in a warm room. Set aside. In a medium pot cook the [geesho] taking 6 cups of honey and water mixture. Bring to boil and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes to avoid the bitter taste and let cool. Add boiled [geesho] and honey water to the remaining honey water mixture and let stand for 5 days.

When mixture ferments, remove [geesho] using strainer and cover again for 24 hours. Taste for sweetness, add more [geesho] to mixture and cover with airtight container for 2-3 days. If too bitter add 1 cup honey and cover with airtight container for about 20 days. Before serving filter through clean cloth. Store container in a cold room or bottle and refrigerate. Usually after 4-8 days the t'ej becomes strong and sediment collects at the bottom of the container. Pour out slowly. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Serves 6-12.

T'ej is a honey wine that can be served with any meal. It is an alcoholic beverage.

There are some variants on the above listed; I don't feel the need to re-type most of the above each time, so I'll just transcribe the differences. In each case, the ingredient is added either when you remove the geesho or the day after they geesho is removed.

I don't think there's any reason you can't rack off the geesho and onto the flavoring ingredient but I wanted to present the recipes as given. The aging time varies, so I'll list it individually.

Banana-flavored t'ej (1 day after racking off geesho):
Six medium bananas, peeled and sliced, added one day after removing geesho. Age seven days.

Citron-flavored t'ej (added when racking off geesho):
1 medium citron, sliced, peeled and seeded, added when removing geesho. Age for 15-20 days.

Coffee-flavored t'ej (1 day after racking off geesho):
1 lb. coffee beans (recipe calls for fresh-roasted). Tie ground beans in clean cloth, put in mixture for 15-20 days.

Ginger-flavored t'ej (1 day after racking off geesho):
4 medium ginger, chopped into large chunks. Age for 15-20 days.

Orange-flavored t'ej (added when racking off geesho):
7 medium orange peels, sliced added to t'ej. Age 15-20 days, remove peels before bottling.

Prune-flavored t'ej (added when racking off geesho):
3 lbs. ripe prunes, seeded. Age 15-20 days.

There is also a recipe for Ethopian beer, or T'ella. It's the first brewing recipe I've seen that includes basic steps for malting wheat and roasting and grinding grain.

Exotic Ethiopian Cooking said:
ETHOPIAN BEER
T'ella

Utensils:
Small wooden barrel
Earthenware or large glass container
Medium frying pan

Ingredients:
3 lbs. woody hops
1.5 gallons water
1 lbs wheat
1.5 lbs barley, finger millet (ground grain malt)

Preparation:
Separate the [geesho] leaves from the wood. Grind them and mix with 1 gallon of water. Cover the wooden barrel with the mixture and set aside.

Biqil: Germinated wheat. Soak wheat in water for three days. When the wheat starts to germinate place it in a deep fastened container covered for three days. On the third day take out the mixture and dry it in the sun or in a slow oven until dry and grind it well, and place in the wooden barrel with the other mixture. Put this wooden barrel with the other mixtures.

Asharo: Roasted ground grain. Roast barley, finger millet until golden brown. Pound to remove husks. Discard the husks and grind to a fine powder. Mix flour with a little water until smooth and bake for 5-7 minutes in low heat. Let it cool. Break the bread into small peices and put into the above container with the other mixtures. Add remaining finely ground [geesho] leaves. Cover the wooden barrel with a clean cloth and allow the mixture to settle for eight hours. After the mixture has settled, add the remaining water and seal the barrel for 7-9 days. Before serving filter through a clean cloth. Store container in a cold room or bottle and refrigerate. Serves 6-12

If T'ella is consumed before three days, it is called Gush T'ella. T'ella is a refreshing, mild alcoholic drink served at all times.

Finger millet appears to be an African grain; I don't think I've ever seen it up here in California.

My apologies if the recipes seem unclear; I've transcribed them exactly as written. I'm looking forward to making some t'ej and I think I'll be doing it like a mead. The best t'ej I've ever had was turbid, so clarity is not to style and I remember it as being quite sweet. Dryness is not the target here…
 
This stuff was featured on the brewmaster episode this week.

As I was reading through this thread, that is exactly what I was thinking. Dogfish Head's Bitches Brew is a blend of Sam Calagione's take on Te'j and an impy stout that they brewed. It was featured on the brewmaster's show of the same name and was brewed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the release of Miles Davis' album, Bitches Brew - which was a fusion of music styles. It really looks like an interesting beer.
 
Thank you to caphector for posting those recipes...I've been aware of that cookbook from other threads/discussions, but to my knowledge this is the first time that anyone has transcribed the recipes in a thread, so it's good to finally see exactly what those recipes describe...

Regarding the DFH T'ej I agree with chef201...the original T'ej they did was a brewpub exclusive, but the recipe is included in Sam's book Extreme Brewing. It's a more modern recipe, and uses a standard yeast rather than a natural fermentation. Bitches Brew is indeed a much different blended recipe of T'ej and stout ingredients. (I really hope I can get a hold of some to try one of these days, but I've not seen it around here in NC yet...)
 
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