Ethiopia operates a coffee-based drink culture distinct from tea-dominant East African neighbors. Buna, the Amharic word for coffee, anchors social ritual throughout the country. The coffee ceremony takes between one and three hours and occurs in homes, offices, and restaurants daily. A woman in traditional white dress roasts green beans over charcoal, grinds them with a mortar and pestle called a mukecha, and brews the grounds three times in a clay pot called a jebena. The first pour is called abol, the second tona, and the third baraka. Popcorn or roasted barley accompanies each round. The ceremony happens morning and afternoon in most Ethiopian households. Addis Ababa has approximately 2,000 traditional coffee houses where people sit on low stools for hours. Urban coffee shops sell macchiato in small glass cups, a legacy of the Italian occupation from 1936 to 1941. The drink differs from Italian macchiato by using a larger coffee-to-milk ratio and serving in a roughly 100-milliliter glass.
Tej represents the second pillar of Ethiopian drink culture. This honey wine ferments in clay vessels for seven to fifteen days depending on desired strength. Tej houses called tej bets exist in every Ethiopian city. Barrels sit along walls, and patrons drink from berele, flask-shaped glass containers with narrow necks that pour wine into small glasses. Tej ranges from five to eleven percent alcohol by volume. The drink uses gesho, a buckthorn plant scientifically named Rhamnus prinoides, as both bittering agent and fermentation catalyst. Gesho grows in the Ethiopian Highlands between 1,800 and 3,000 meters. Workers harvest the stems and leaves, dry them, and add them to honey-water mixtures. Tej production occurs year-round, but harvest festivals in October and November see increased consumption. A berele holding roughly 500 milliliters costs between 50 and 150 birr in Addis Ababa as of 2024, equivalent to approximately 0.90 to 2.70 US dollars.
Tella, a barley or maize beer, serves as the everyday fermented drink. Households brew tella in five-gallon plastic jerrycans or clay pots. The beer ferments for three to seven days and achieves two to four percent alcohol. Women control tella production and sales. Tella houses marked by red or blue paint sell the beer in recycled glass bottles or plastic cups. The drink has a sour, yeasty taste and cloudy tan appearance. Gesho provides the bittering similar to hops in European beer. Tella costs 10 to 30 birr per liter in most Ethiopian cities. The beer does not keep longer than three days after brewing due to continued fermentation and lack of pasteurization. Commercial breweries including St. George, Harar, Bedele, and Meta produce bottled lager beers that command higher prices and urban market share, but tella remains the volume leader in rural areas where 80 percent of Ethiopia's approximately 120 million people live.
Ethiopia imports soft drinks from multinational bottlers, but locally produced drinks include Atlas water, Ambo mineral water from the town of Ambo 125 kilometers west of Addis Ababa, and fruit juices sold by street vendors. Mango, papaya, avocado, and mixed fruit juices blend with sugar and water. Vendors operate manual juicers clamped to wooden carts. A cup of fresh juice costs 20 to 40 birr. Atmet, a barley flour drink mixed with water and sugar, appears in street stalls during fasting periods. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians fast on Wednesdays and Fridays year-round plus during Lent, which lasts 55 days before Easter, and additional fasting periods totaling approximately 200 days annually. During fasts, adherents avoid all animal products, creating demand for plant-based street foods and drinks.
Injera serves as both food and eating utensil across Ethiopia. This sourdough flatbread ferments for three to five days using wild yeasts. Teff, a grain endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands, provides the traditional flour. Teff seeds measure one millimeter in diameter, making them the smallest grain cultivated for human consumption. White teff grows in elevations between 1,800 and 2,100 meters and costs more than red or mixed teff. A 50-kilogram sack of white teff cost approximately 4,500 birr in Addis Ababa markets in late 2024. Many urban and most rural households blend teff with barley, wheat, or maize to reduce cost. Injera cooks on a clay plate called a mitad placed over fire or electric heat. The batter pours in a spiral pattern, steam rises through surface holes, and the bread cooks on one side only. Diameter ranges from 40 to 60 centimeters. Texture resembles a thin sponge with tangy, slightly sour flavor from fermentation.
Street vendors sell injera wrapped around cooked fillings, creating portable versions of restaurant dishes. Tibs firfir combines torn injera pieces with sautéed beef or goat and onions in a clarified butter called niter kibbeh. Niter kibbeh infuses with garlic, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, fenugreek, and other spices during a slow heating process. The butter solidifies at room temperature and vendors keep it in plastic containers. A portion of tibs firfir sold from a street cart costs 50 to 100 birr. Ful medames, a fava bean stew, entered Ethiopian food culture through Sudanese and Eritrean influence. Vendors sell ful from large pots, mashing cooked beans with oil, cumin, and chili. Customers eat ful with bread or injera. A serving costs 30 to 60 birr in Addis Ababa.
Kitfo, minced raw beef mixed with mitmita chili powder and niter kibbeh, appears in street stalls and restaurants. Butchers mince the meat with a knife rather than grinding to preserve texture. Mitmita contains bird's eye chili, cardamom, cloves, and salt. Kitfo sells leb leb, meaning warmed but not cooked through, or tire siga, completely raw. The dish comes with ayib, a fresh cheese similar to cottage cheese, and gomen, cooked collard greens. Street vendors selling kitfo operate in early morning and late afternoon to ensure meat freshness in the absence of refrigeration. A portion costs 80 to 150 birr. The Gurage ethnic group, whose homeland sits 150 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa, claims kitfo as a cultural dish. Gurage restaurants in Addis Ababa concentrate in the Mercato area and around Meskel Square.
Sambusa, triangular pastries filled with lentils, meat, or vegetables, appear at every Ethiopian street food stand. The pastry dough uses wheat flour rolled thin and fried in vegetable oil. Lentil sambusas dominate during fasting periods. A sambusa costs 5 to 15 birr depending on size and filling. The snack arrived through trade connections with the Arabian Peninsula and resembles samosas found across South Asia and East Africa, but Ethiopian versions use berbere spice blend in meat fillings. Berbere contains at least twelve spices including chili, fenugreek, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, and ajwain. Each household and vendor creates a proprietary blend. Street vendors fry sambusas in large woks over charcoal or gas burners and stack them in glass cases.
Roasted maize, barley, chickpeas, and peanuts sell from cloth-covered baskets at bus stations and market areas. Vendors roast grains in wide metal pans over fire. Kolo, a mixture of roasted barley and chickpeas sometimes including peanuts and sunflower seeds, costs 20 to 40 birr for a small bag. Women carry kolo in baskets during coffee ceremonies. Roasted maize on the cob, called bekolo, sells for 10 to 20 birr per ear. Peanuts roasted in their shells cost 30 to 50 birr per kilogram in Addis Ababa markets.