NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The use of honey for culinary use and beekeeping has been recorded in Ethiopia as far back as 3,500 and 3,000 B.C. Today, Ethiopia produces the largest amount of honey in Africa.
Tej is the national drink of Ethiopia, and Addis has been serving it for quite a while. Addis NOLA Restaurant opened in New Orleans in 2018. The restaurant now bottles and sells its own Ethiopian tej, made with locally sourced Louisiana honey.
Prince Lobo is the owner of Addis and explains, “tej is an Ethiopian honey wine and is one of the first alcohols to ever exist on Earth. There is a story that when the Queen of Sheba had an engagement with King Solomon, they had a chance to enjoy a bottle of honey wine under a full moon, which is where we get the term ‘honey moon.’ It’s one of those special parts of Ethiopian culture that is celebrated during holidays, weddings, Christmas and the like. We had family in Ethiopia who moved to New Orleans and taught us how to make this libation.”
The honey wine of Addis NOLA Restaurant is called The Prince’s Tej and is available by the bottle for local pickup at the restaurant through online order. Restaurant-goers can also order tej by the glass inside the restaurant.
Addis also makes cocktails with tej, including a flavorful martini-styled cocktail called “The Woo,” with The Prince’s Tej, elderflower liqueur, dry vermouth and gin. The recipe is as follows: “we’ll take an ounce of the honey wine, an ounce of elderflower liqueur, two ounces of gin and a quarter of an ounce of dry vermouth,” explains Lobo.
The ferment period to make tej varies. Addis ages it for about two months. Most traditional grape wines have an alcohol-by-volume range of 12 to 14 percent alcohol. Tej has an alcohol-by-volume at Addis at about 14 percent alcohol. However, tej can traditionally have an even higher ABV because of the high sugar content in honey.
The flavor of tej is very unique and Lobo explains it saying, “when you taste our tej, you’ll taste sweet rich, floral and herbaceous honey. After that initial complex sweetness, you’ll experience a Frizzante. You’ll experience bubbles, like you do with champagne.”
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