mead Vs Tej?

Any idea what the differences are? I got some meade from my local beer store, and it tastes a lot like Tej to me, is this normal?

Wasn't familiar with Tej so I looked it up. Sounds like a variation but similar to mead. Here is what Wiki says:

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

A sweeter, less-alcoholic version called berz, aged for a shorter time, is also made. The traditional vessel for drinking tej is a rounded vase-shaped container called a berele, which looks like a Florence flask. Tej has a deceptively sweet taste that masks its high alcohol content, which varies greatly according to the length of fermentation.

Tej is usually homemade, but throughout Ethiopia it is available in tejbeits (literally, "tej houses", or pubs).

Nurmey said:

Wasn't familiar with Tej so I looked it up. Sounds like a variation but similar to mead. Here is what Wiki says:

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Keep forgetting not everyone has tons of Ethiopian restaurants in their city

I pity you all!

claphamsa said:

Ethiopian restaurants

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Isn't that an oxymoron?

sounds like Tej is indeed just a sub-category of mead, like a metheglin, or a pyment.

I wouldn't really call it a sub-catagory of mead, nobody in America tries to make "tej," so to speak, they make mead and you won’t see it as a category in any festivals. It's like medovina, it's just mead from Slavic countries, not very different from American mead, only a few some minor ingredients.

Thanks all! Thats pretty much what I thought!, now to make some mead