'Tej' is a home-processed, but also commercially available honey wine. It is prepared from honey, water and leaves of Gesho (Rhamnus prenoides). Sometimes, widely for commercial purposes, mixture of honey and sugar could be used for its preparation. In cases where sugar is used as part of the substrate, natural food coloring is added so that the beverage attains a yellow color similar to that made from honey (Fite et al., 1991). Some also add different concoctions such as barks or roots of some plants or secrete herbal ingredients to improve flavor or potency and to attract customers. Due to concoction, adulteration practices and possibly some other reasons, producers usually are not willing to tell about additives used and their composition.

A total of 200 samples of 'tej', an indigenous Ethiopian honey wine, were collected from ten production units at different production times. The pH values of samples varied between 3.07 and 4.90 and 77% of the samples had pH values <4.0.

Good quality 'tej' is yellow, sweet, effervescent and cloudy due to the content of yeasts. The flavor of 'tei' depends upon the part of the country where the bees have collected the nectar and the climate (Vogel & Gobezie, 1983).