Areke: Exploring Ethiopia's Traditional Home-Distilled Alcoholic Drink

Nov 29, 2025 0

Ethiopia, with its diverse ethnic groups and rich cultural heritage, boasts a unique cuisine characterized by a wide array of dishes and beverages. Religion played an important role in the evolution of Ethiopian dishes in their uniqueness. Among these traditional drinks, Areke stands out as a home-distilled alcoholic beverage with deep roots in Ethiopian culture.

An Ethiopian woman pouring Tej, another popular traditional beverage.

The Richness of Ethiopian Cuisine

With more than 85 ethnic groups, Ethiopia has a diverse cousin. Most ethnic groups have their own unique dishes or share them with each other. Sometimes it is not easy to know which foods and drinks belong to which tribes.

Without fancy cutlery and sophisticated tableware, Ethiopian food looks unique and beautiful. There are dozens of spices in Ethiopian food. Perhaps being spicy is the defining feature of Ethiopian cuisine. But there is also a non-spicy version called Alcha (ALCHA). Most Ethiopian cuisines served with a flatbread called Injera.

Injera: The Staple Food

Injera or enjera is the most common staple food in Ethiopia. It is a circular dish like bread with a slightly spongy texture. Traditionally it is made from an ancient grain called Teff and other cereal flours such as barley, wheat, sorghum, etc. An authentic Injera is made from Teff, a cereal that grows only in Ethiopia. While Injera is originally specific to Ethiopia, it is also widespread in other East African nations such as Eritrea.

Injera is usually served on flat plates with a variety of stews called Wet. Wet stew (WET) is prepared from a combination of ingredients cooked in liquid (stew). It can be made of lentils, peas, chickpeas, meat, chicken and vegetables cooked in spices, onion, oil and butter. It takes a long process to make Injera.

We start with the choice of a good clean Teff cereal that goes to the mill, the flour will be mixed with water and left to ferment for three days. The sour taste of injera comes from this fermentation process.

Traditional Ethiopian Dishes

Ethiopia is one of the most exciting countries for many vegetarians and many foodies.

Shiro: A slow cooking stew whose ingredient is onion, garlic, oil , berbere (Ethiopian spice), butter and shiro powder. Shiro powder is the main ingredient which is a homemade spicy powder of chickpeas, broad beans, round peas or other beans. Shiro is wonderful and served at the top of Injera. Sometimes it comes on a bowl. There are several versions of Shiro. Shiro feses is a thin liquid version. Tegabino is a type of Shiro made more dense and served with a pot of hot clay.
Kitfo: It is perhaps the most popular food among local Ethiopians. It is consumed on special occasions such as parties and weddings. Kitfo is made with freshly ground raw red meat with no fat, then mixed with spicy butter, chili, cardamom, and salt in a slightly warm clay bowl. The most traditional and authentic version of Kitffo is served raw. It has lightly cooked and cooked versions that you can eat to your liking and preferences.
Tire-siga: Raw beef. Yes, Ethiopians are obsessed with raw meat, it’s simple raw meat served with a hot spicy paste called Awaze. The best feast and traditional celebration is accompanied by the consumption of raw meat. It is one of the most popular dishes. A butcher cuts the best portion and serves it with a knife.
Doro wat: Doro wat is considered Ethiopia’s national dish. It’s a spicy, slow-cooked onion-based chicken stew. Often served on Injera with cottage cheese and hard-boiled eggs.
Beyainatu: Beyaynetu which can be translated as It is a mixed platter of different stews and vegetables topping on Injera Variety is a sampler dish of every small bite of different stew you can add on top of a plate of Injera. there are different toppings, however, most common are collard green, cabbage, tomato, potatoes, Shiro, lentil stews, and more, creating a riot of colors and tastes.
Tibs: is a Cube slide meat steered on a hot pan with the onion, garlic, spiced with Rosemary and green paper. The meat can be beef, goat, or lamb. Tibs is one of the most popular and quickest Ethiopian dishes to make. Tibs is served in a variety of manners and version, Our favorite is Shekla tibs, which is pan-roasted Crispy Meat served on top of Clay on hot flaming coal.

Ethiopia is one of the countries where a wide variety of traditional fermented foods and beverages are prepared and consumed.

Ethiopian local fermented foods and beverages are products of acid-alcohol type of fermentation. These include “injera,” “ergo,” “ititu,” “ayib,” “qibe,” “arrera,” “kocho,” “tella,” “siljo,” “datta,” “awaze,” “borde,” “tej,” “areki,” “cheka,” “azo,” “keribo,”and “korefe.” Of these “tella,” “cheka,” “tej,” “borde,” “areki,” “keribo,”and “korefe” are among the varieties of fermented beverages consumed in Ethiopia, while “awaze,” “datta,” “siljo,” and “azo” are among the varieties of traditionally fermented condiments known in Ethiopia.

Read also: Authentic Ethiopian Cuisine

What is Areke?

Arake is a traditional home-distilled alcoholic drink from grains, malt, and Gesho leafe or hops.

“Areki” is a distilled, colorless, clear, traditional alcoholic beverage in which fermented products are prepared in almost the same way as “tella” except that the fermentation mass in this case is more concentrated.

“Areki” fermentation product is known as Yereki-tinsis which is prepared by mixing powdered gesho leaves and powdered bikil (1 : 2 ratios) with water to give a mixture of free flowing consistency and will be put aside to ferment for about five days.

የጠጅ አሰራር / የጠጅ አጣጣል / Ethiopian honey wine/Ethiopian traditional drink teji /how to make Tej

Types of Areke

Traditionally areki is classified as terra-areki and dagim-areki. The term dagim in Amharic refers to “second time” and designates that it is distilled second time, whereas the term terra in Amharic refers to “ordinary”.

Terra-areki: The alcohol content of terra-areki was reported to be 34.09% (v/v) and varies between 22.0-28.0% (v/v).
Dagim-areki: Dagim-areki is redistilled to give terra-areki that have higher alcohol content with the average of around 45% (v/v). It was also reported to have a mean value of 46.6% (v/v) ethanol content.

Since the government has no control over the production of locally brewed alcoholic drinks, it is difficult to estimate the amount of alcohol production and consumption in Ethiopia.

Other Traditional Ethiopian Beverages

Besides Areke, Ethiopia boasts a variety of other traditional fermented beverages, each with its unique ingredients and preparation methods.

Tej: Ethiopian honey wine is an alcoholic drink brewed by fermenting honey, water, yeast, and Gesho a kind of hop only found in Ethiopia. It tastes sweet at first but it will get a bitter taste from the hops or Gesho. Many families make it at home but It is mostly found in a special Tej bar and traditional food restaurants. It is nicknamed the kings’ drink as it is always.
Bula: Bula is a thick porage similar to Genfo presented in a large mound with a hole in the center, filled with a mixture of spiced butter and berbere or chili.
Beso Drink: Beso Drink is a shake of lightly roasted barley flour with honey or sugar.
Cow Milk/Yogurt: Cow Milk, Cow yogurt mixed with Mitmita /spiced chili powder. In the highlands of Ethiopia are common.
Tella: “Tella” is a popular Ethiopian traditional beverage, which is made from diverse ingredients. “Tella” has various vernaculars in the various regions and is based on substrates such as barley, wheat, maize, millet, sorghum, “teff,” or other cereals.
Cheka: “Cheka” is a cereal and vegetable-based fermented beverage which is consumed in Southwestern parts of Ethiopia. Cheka is mainly prepared from cereals such as sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), maize (Zea mays), and vegetables such as leaf cabbage (Brassica spp.), moringa (Moringa stenoptella), and decne (Leptadenia hastata).
Borde: “Borde” is a multipurpose cereal-based (maize (Zea mays), barley (Hordeum vulgare), wheat (Triticum sativum), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and tef (Eragrostis tef)) traditionally fermented beverage and is widely consumed in the southern and western parts of Ethiopia.
Shamita: “Shamita” is another traditional beverage of Ethiopia, which is low in alcohol content, made by overnight fermentation of mainly roasted barley flour and consumed as meal replacement.
Keribo: Among the various fermented beverages, keribo is a traditional fermented beverage produced mainly from barley and sugar in different parts of Ethiopia.
Korefe: Korefe is the name of the traditional indigenous fermented beverage made in Begemder province among the Koumant ethnic group in Ethiopia.

Traditional Fermented Condiments

Traditional fermented condiments are among the various traditional fermented foods, which are produced by microbial fermentations under highly variable conditions in different parts of the world. Such food products are not consumed alone, but are added as a condiment to make the food more tasty and enjoyable. Condiments constitute significant proportion of African diets where they serve as flavorsome and culinary components in various dishes.

Awaze: Awaze is common in the north and central Ethiopia and is often used to flavor slice raw or roasted meat and other traditional pancakes.
Datta: Datta (also called qotchqotcha) is a condiment of similar use as that of awaze mainly in the southern part of Ethiopia and is consumed with other items on the basis of their desirable aromas and flavors resulted from the microbial fermentations of vegetable-spice mixtures.
Siljo: Siljo is one of the traditionally fermented condiments of Ethiopia made up of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) extract and faba bean (Vicia faba) flour. It is a popular condiment during the long fasting period before Easter.
Azo: Azo is a traditionally fermented semisolid condiment prepared from cereal flour and leaves of endod in northwest Ethiopia Tigray regional state.

The Art of Making Arak (Levantine Drink)

While the article primarily focuses on Ethiopian Areke, it's worth noting the existence of a similar Levantine spirit called Arak. Though distinct in origin and ingredients, the process of making Arak shares some similarities with traditional distillation methods.

Here's a simplified overview of how Arak is traditionally made:

The Crush: The first step in making Arak is sorting and crushing the grapes. Harvest the finest clusters, some unwelcome ones can slip through. So, handle each one individually and remove any clusters that may have any unwanted characteristics. After sorting, the clusters it's time to crush them. Throw them in a tub or baby pool, wash your feet and get crushing.
Primary Fermentation: Throw the crushed grapes and their juice into a bucket, barrel or whatever you got laying around. Make sure it's cleaned and sanitized first. Now you just let it be. The yeast on the skins will consume the sugar in the grapes and turn it into alcohol. It'll get frothy to let you know it's working.
The Press: After a week when things die down and the fermentation is less active, you need to separate the juice from the skins / seeds. You can make a homemade grape press by getting two identical buckets, and drilling a crazy amount of holes into one of them. Pour the grapes into the bucket full of holes, and then put the other bucket on top of the grapes and start jumping up and down inside of it. If you don't get me, just google DIY Grape Press.
Secondary Fermentation: Pour the juice back into a sealed, clean and sanitized container with an airlock for 2-3 more weeks. If you don't have an airlock, Google DIY Airlock - they're easy to make. When you're airlock stops bubbling, it's a good indicator that your fermentation is over and you're ready to distill.
First Distillation: Dump your wine into a pot still. If you don't have one, you can either buy a hobby still. Read up on safety precautions before distilling. If you don't know what you're doing, you can easily cause a fire or explosion. Please be careful. The purpose of this distillation is to convert the wine into a crude spirit, that is not safe to drink with a higher alcohol concentration.
Second Distillation: Load your crude spirit back into the still. It should not be more than 30% ABV. This is where you refine your spirit into something that's safe and enjoyable to consume, while further increasing the ABV. You need to learn to divide the spirit into fore-shots, heads, hearts and tails. This is much easier said than done. You have to rely on your senses (i.e. smell, taste and touch) and this can only come with experience. The most important thing is to disregard the foreshots so nobody gets methanol poisoning from your spirit. The remaining cuts won't be poisonous, but how good you make your cuts, has a direct impact on how good your spirit smells / tastes.
Third Distillation: Load your refined spirit back into the still. Dilute to 30% ABV (this is essential), add aniseed and distill once more.
Maturation: Age the spirit in a slightly porous vessel so that the higher alcohols can evaporate. You'll have to periodically use sensory analysis to determine when it is ready. How long it ages, depends on your climate. Aging is shorter in hotter climates, and longer in colder climates. Only smelling and tasting can let you know when it is ready.
Proofing: Dilute to 53% alcohol.
Bottling: Bottle, Cork & Label it, and you're done.

It is important to emphasize that home distillation can be dangerous and illegal depending on local laws. This information is for educational purposes only.

Quality Parameters of Tella

According to [13], the pH value of tella, which has good quality, ranged from 4 to 5. The pH value of tella samples ranged from 4.59 to 5.03 as shown in (Table 2) below.

Reference	pH Value
Yohannes et al.	4.59-5.03
YirgaAdugna et al.	Data not available

The electrical conductivity values of traditional alcoholic drinks indicate the quantity of mariners and mineral ions. Shamita had a high total dissolved solid value followed by borde. The pH value between the tella and borde. The pH values of libations are 3.5-4.0.