Siwa

Grain, bread and gesho

Siwa is made from whatever grain a region grows. Wikipedia’s article on Eritrean culture describes the Eritrean home brew as made from roasted corn, barley and other grains, and its article on siwa describes a toasted flatbread of barley in the highlands, or of sorghum, finger millet or maize in the lowlands. Craft Beer & Brewing magazine and a 2020 review of Ethiopian fermented drinks in the International Journal of Microbiology add teff and wheat to the grains used across the wider tella tradition.

Its signature flavouring is gesho (Rhamnus prinoides), a buckthorn whose dried leaves do the job that hops do in European beer. Craft Beer & Brewing notes that it is often called Ethiopian hops and that it gives the drink a woody, earthy, green character.

Brewing at home

Recipes vary from house to house, but the broad steps are shared. The clay brewing pot is cleaned with the leaves of a plant called grawa and then smoked over burning wood such as weyra, a kind of olive; both Wikipedia’s article on tella and the 2020 review describe this step, and the review notes that the smoke adds flavour.

Ground malt and gesho are mixed with water and left to stand, and pieces of the toasted bread go in. Over several days yeasts and lactic acid bacteria ferment the mash; Craft Beer & Brewing stresses that tella brewers add no commercial yeast. Shortly before serving, the liquid is strained off the grain and topped up with water to taste.

The result is low in alcohol. Wikipedia gives siwa an alcohol content of 2 to 5 per cent and tella around 2 to 4 per cent, with stronger versions also brewed, and describes a flavour that is smoky from the toasted bread, with sourness, bitterness and sweetness together.

A drink for celebrations

In Eritrea, siwa is closely tied to celebrations. Wikipedia’s article on Eritrean culture says the home brew is often made for celebrations, with a sweet honey wine, mies, also commonly served, and the travel publisher World Travel Guide lists siwa and mess (mies) among the country’s local drinks. Baptisms, weddings and graduations are among the gatherings where it is poured, according to Wikipedia’s article on siwa, and its article on tella names holidays and weddings.

It belongs mainly to Christian households. Wikipedia’s article on Eritrean cuisine notes that Christian Eritreans drink sowa and mies while Muslim Eritreans abstain from alcohol, and World Travel Guide lists abake, a non-alcoholic drink made by Eritrean Muslims.

Across the border

The same tradition runs through Tigray. Wikipedia describes siwa there as a reward for work, served to farmers and labourers during ploughing, threshing and house-building, and sold in village beer houses, known as inda siwa, which are mostly run by women; its article on tella likewise describes tella houses where the drink is sold. Craft Beer & Brewing counted more than 100 brewers of tella, or suwa in Tigrinya, selling their brew in Aksum, the historic town near the Eritrean border.

In Emblem World, siwa sits in the Eritrea drink collection, where people discover and rate local food, drink and music.