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Alcoholic drinks from Ethiopia

Shamita (Ethiopian roasted-barley sour drink)shamita

Shamita is a thick, sour, low-alcohol Ethiopian drink made from roasted barley flour. The flour is mixed in the evening with salt, ground linseed, a little spice, water and some slurry from the last batch, and it is ready by morning. Bird's eye chilli goes in just before serving, and it turns too sour within hours.

Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks24 h

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHousehold recipe with no fixed amounts except the 1–2 L of old slurry used as a starter.
Lightly roasted barley, ground[fentie2020][hotessa2020]
Ground linseedBelieved to give the drink its thick body[hotessa2020]
Salt and a small amount of spice[fentie2020]
Water[fentie2020]
Slurry from the previous batch1–2 LThe starter[fentie2020]
Bird's eye chilliAdded just before serving[fentie2020]
Starterbackslop: 1–2 L of slurry from the previous batch

Total time across the recorded steps: 24 h

Start
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What changes: Lightly roasted barley is ground into flour

Step 1 of 4
Roast and grind the barley
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
Moulds

Output: roasted barley flour.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Shamita is a thick, sour, low-alcohol Ethiopian drink made from roasted barley flour. The flour is mixed in the evening with salt, ground linseed, a little spice, water and some slurry from the last batch, and it is ready by morning. Bird's eye chilli goes in just before serving, and it turns too sour within hours. Made in 4 steps over 24 h. The longest step, ferment overnight, takes 24 h (Bacha K 1999). Salt is 4.6 % (Fentie E.G. et al. 2020). Lactic acid bacteria, mainly homo- and heterofermentative Lactobacillus species and Yeasts, mostly brought in with the barley malt do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 hMeasured[bacha1999]Ferment overnight
Salt4.6 %Reported[fentie2020]Add chilli and serve
AciditypH 3.8–4.2Measured[ashenafi1995][fentie2020]Add chilli and serve

What makes this one different

Shamita needs no malt step and ferments only overnight, and it is salted and spiced with linseed and chilli. Tella ferments over about two to four weeks.

Related ferments

Safety

In lab shamita, coliforms, other Enterobacteriaceae and moulds were eliminated after 16 h as the pH fell to about 4. Vendor samples still held about 10^6 cfu/mL Enterobacteriaceae, so it is drunk fresh.

Hazards the sources name: Coliforms and other Enterobacteriaceae (gone after 16 h of fermentation).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
  1. [fentie2020] Fentie E.G. et al. 2020, Cereal- and fruit-based Ethiopian traditional fermented alcoholic beverages, Foods 9(12):1781paper
  2. [bacha1999] Bacha K., Mehari T., Ashenafi M. 1999, Microbiology of the fermentation of shamita, a traditional Ethiopian fermented beverage, SINET Ethiop. J. Sci. 22(1):113–126 (abstract)paper
  3. [ashenafi1995] Ashenafi M., Mehari T. 1995, Some microbiological and nutritional properties of Borde and Shamita, traditional Ethiopian fermented beverages, Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 9 (abstract)paper
  4. [hotessa2020] Hotessa N., Robe J. 2020, Ethiopian indigenous traditional fermented beverage, the role of the microorganisms toward nutritional and safety value of fermented beverage, Int. J. Microbiol. 2020:8891259paper
  5. [mulaw2025] Mulaw G., Gebregziabher T., Tesfay T. 2025, A review on the microbiology of Ethiopian traditional fermented beverage products, Front. Nutr. 12:1519547paper
  6. [wedajo2020] Wedajo Lemi B. 2020, Microbiology of Ethiopian traditionally fermented beverages and condiments, Int. J. Microbiol. 2020:1478536paper