Tella or talla (Amharic ጠላ; Oromo: farsoo, Tigrinya: siwa) is a traditional beer from Ethiopia. It is brewed from various grains, typically teff and sorghum.[citation needed] Depending on region, barley, wheat, or maize may be used; spices can also be added.[citation needed] Dried and ground shiny-leaf buckthorn leaves are used for fermentation.[citation needed] Due to the addition of bread and use of a fermentation vessel which has been smoked over dried olive wood or Abyssinian rose wood, tella may have a smoky flavour. The alcohol content of unfiltered Tella is usually around 2–4 Volume percent, filtered tella contains about 5–6 vol%.[citation needed]
Tella is often home-brewed.[1] It may be offered in tella houses (tellabet), usually in regular homes, where people meet and talk to each other.[citation needed]
Tella was commonly used for kiddush by the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews). Tella was used because wine was often unavailable. Due to the availability of wine in Israel, Ethiopian-Israelis generally use wine for kiddush instead of tella.[2]
