Tej is a mead or honey wine brewed and consumed in Ethiopia. It is flavored with the powdered leaves and bark of gesho, 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.

It is usually homemade but is available from bars across Ethiopia and usually drunk in tejbeits (tej pubs).

The best tej is, by common agreement, made in Lalibela, whose bees are reputed to make the sweetest honey.

Some accounts of Tej depict it as more of a honey beer than a true mead, with raw honey being added as a sweetener to a fermented, gesho flavored grain beverage, thus raising the question of large regional or ethnic differences in Ethiopia's Tej tradition. An excellent article to this effect may be found at Gotmead.com.

Tej is also an Indian name meaning "radiant" in the Sanskrit language.

Alcoholic beverages | Ethiopian cuisine