Gesho substitute

Best substitute

Low-aroma hops (Saaz, Hallertau, or aged hops)

Use Start with ¼ oz whole leaf hops for every gallon where a recipe calls for about 1 oz of gesho

Best for tej and honey wine

Different taste

There is no exact substitute for gesho, but the workable answer is a small hop addition for bitterness plus strong black tea for tannin: per gallon of tej, steep 1/4 ounce of whole low-aroma hops such as Saaz or Hallertau for 15 minutes, then add 2 strongly brewed black tea bags. Roasted dandelion or chicory root, or a very small amount of gentian root, are the other useful options.

Other gesho substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Strong black tea
Different taste
Use 2 to 3 tea bags brewed strong in a cup of water for 10 minutes, for every gallon
Tea supplies the part hops miss entirely: tannin.
What changes
Gesho leaves a dry, astringent grip on the finish, and black tea is the easiest way to recreate it.
Best for
adding the tannic dryness of gesho, pairing with a small hop or root addition, tej that tastes flabby or too sweet
Tea alone is not bitter enough to replace gesho, so treat it as one half of a pair. It also adds a faint malty, hay-like note that sits well in tej. Steep it separately and add the cooled liquid to the must so you can dose by taste; over-steeped tea turns harshly astringent and papery.
3Roasted dandelion or chicory root
Different taste
Use 1 to 2 tsp roasted root for every gallon, simmered 10 to 15 minutes and strained
Both give a rounded, earthy bitterness rather than the sharp bitterness of hops, which is closer in shape to what gesho contributes.
What changes
Best for
tella and darker brews, when you want bitterness without hop aroma, herbalists and homebrewers with a well-stocked cupboard
The bitterness reads roasty and coffee-like, so it pushes the brew darker in both colour and flavour. That suits tella more than tej. Chicory is slightly sweeter than dandelion. Simmer briefly and taste the liquid before it goes in, because roast levels vary hugely between suppliers.
4Gentian root
Different taste
Use ⅛ to ¼ tsp dried root for every gallon, no more
Gentian is one of the most intensely bitter botanicals available, and it is a precision tool: pure bitterness with almost no aroma of its own.
What changes
Best for
dialling in bitterness without adding any flavour, combining with black tea for tannin, small test batches
The bitterness is clean, sharp and very persistent, without gesho's woody, resinous character. It is extremely easy to overdo. Make a tincture or a strong tea from a measured amount, then add it a few millilitres at a time to a sample glass until the balance is right, and scale up from there.
5Light-toast oak chips
Different taste
Use ¼ oz for every gallon for about a week, tasting every couple of days
Oak is not a bittering agent, but it delivers the woody tannin and dry finish that make gesho recognisable, so it works well alongside a bittering ingredient.
What changes
Best for
recreating the woody character of gesho sticks, pairing with hops or gentian, aged tej
On its own, oak will leave a tej sweet and unbalanced, because it adds almost no bitterness. It also adds vanilla and toast notes at higher toast levels, so use light or untoasted chips. Pull the oak as soon as the woodiness is where you want it; it keeps extracting and goes to sawdust quickly.
6The combination that gets closest
Different taste
Per gallon: ¼ oz aged low-aroma hops steeped 15 min + 2 strong black tea bags + 1 tsp roasted dandelion root
No single ingredient stands in for gesho, but bitterness plus tannin plus an earthy root note together cover most of what it does.
What changes
Best for
the best available approximation of tej, anyone who cannot source gesho at all
Be honest with yourself about the result: this makes a good bitter honey wine, and it does not make tej. Gesho's specific woody, slightly medicinal aroma is its own thing. Build the bitter liquid separately, taste it before it goes into the must, and hold some back to adjust at bottling.

What is Gesho?

Gesho is Gesho is the dried leaf and woody stem of Rhamnus prinoides, Ethiopian buckthorn, used as the bittering agent in the honey wine tej and the home-brewed beer tella.

Cooking tips

Gesho is traditionally boiled or steeped to extract it, not thrown in dry, and any substitute should be handled the same way: make a strong bitter tea, taste it, and then dose it into the must. This is the single most important habit, because bitterness cannot be removed once it is in.
In tej the bitterness is meant to arrive on the finish rather than the front of the palate. If your brew tastes bitter on the first sip, you have overshot; aim for something that reads honey-sweet and then dries out and turns bitter as you swallow.
Gesho contributes no aroma to speak of, which means techniques that add aroma work against you. Skip dry hopping, use short steeps rather than long ones, and choose the least aromatic hop variety you can find.
Gesho does more than flavour in a traditional brew: it helps hold spoilage organisms in check during a long open fermentation. If you replace it, compensate on the sanitation side rather than hoping for the best. Sanitise everything, pitch a proper measured yeast rather than relying on a wild ferment, and keep the vessel covered.
Do not reach for wormwood as a gesho substitute even though it is bitter and available. It is aggressively medicinal at the doses needed for real bitterness and it will dominate everything else in the glass. Gentian gives you bitterness with far fewer side effects.
Hold back a portion of your bittering liquid and add it at bottling if the finished brew tastes flat. Bitterness perceptibly softens over a long ferment, so a tej that tasted correctly bitter in week one often tastes underbittered by month three.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave gesho out of tej?

You can, and you will get drinkable honey wine, but you will not get tej. Without a bittering agent, fermented honey tastes sweet and one-dimensional, and the sweetness has nothing pushing back against it, which most people find cloying after half a glass. Bitterness is the structural element that makes tej refreshing rather than sticky, so use something even if it is only strong black tea and a pinch of hops.

Is gesho the same as hops?

No. They are unrelated plants that happen to do a similar job. Gesho is Rhamnus prinoides, a buckthorn, and the dried leaves and woody stems are used. Hops are the flowers of Humulus lupulus. Both bitter a fermented drink and both have mild preservative effects, which is why hops are the usual substitute, but the flavours are clearly different: hops are floral and resinous-citrusy, gesho is woody, tannic and drying with a faintly medicinal edge.

What does gesho actually taste like?

Bitter and drying rather than sharp, with a woody, slightly resinous character and a hint of hay or dried leaves. It leaves the mouth feeling tannic, the way strong over-steeped tea or a young red wine does. It is not aromatic in the way hops or spices are, which is why aroma-heavy substitutes stand out so obviously.

Can I use sea buckthorn instead of Ethiopian buckthorn?

No, and it is an easy mistake to make from the name. Sea buckthorn is a completely different plant grown for its sour orange berries, which are acidic and fruity rather than bitter and tannic. Adding sea buckthorn to a tej would push it sour, not bitter, and would not do gesho's job at all.

Where can I buy gesho?

Ethiopian and Eritrean groceries are the reliable source, where it is sold dried, either as crumbled leaves or as bundles of split woody stems, and it also turns up from online spice and herb sellers. Because it is dried, it keeps well and a small purchase lasts through many batches, so it is usually worth ordering it once rather than permanently brewing with substitutes.

Related substitutes

More alcohol & vinegars substitutes

Gesho substitute

Other gesho substitutes

2Strong black tea

3Roasted dandelion or chicory root

4Gentian root

5Light-toast oak chips

6The combination that gets closest