Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Shahi Eritrea
Eritrean spiced tea steeped with cloves, cinnamon, and ginger and sweetened generously, a fragrant cup with an Italian-era accent.
Eritrean · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 12 min
~49 cal · 0g protein · 13g carbs · 0g fat · 0g fiber · 13g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Shahi is Eritrean spiced tea, black tea brewed with , cinnamon, cloves, and often ginger, sweetened generously and served in small glasses. Warming and aromatic, it is central to Eritrean hospitality and social life.
The rich spicing reflects the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade routes that shaped Eritrean cooking, cousin to the spiced teas of Sudan, Somalia, and the Arab world. Sharing tea is a gesture of welcome and community.
Enjoyed in homes and cafés across Asmara, shahi is a fragrant, comforting ritual.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 tbsp loose black tea
4 cups water
4 cloves
4 pods, cracked
1 stick cinnamon
1-inch ginger
1/4 cup sugar, to taste
Instructions
1
Bring the water to a boil with the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, and sliced ginger.
2
Add the tea and sugar and simmer gently 5 minutes until amber and fragrant.
3
Steep off the heat for a minute so the spices come forward.
4
Strain into glasses and serve hot and sweet.
Asmara café tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Asmara. Asmara sits high on the Eritrean plateau, eating berbere-red stews scooped with injera in the shared style of the Horn. Italian colonial rule left pasta and espresso alongside zigni beef stew and spiced clarified butter.
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Eritrea. Eritrean cooking mirrors Ethiopia's, spicy stews (tsebhi) scooped with the sourdough flatbread injera, with an added Italian colonial twist of pasta. Berbere spice and communal platters define the table.
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Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Eritrea
ZigniA fiery Eritrean beef stew built on berbere spice and long-cooked onions, eaten with injera.
Pasta al Sugo e BerbereSpaghetti tossed in silsi, the Eritrean tomato sauce spiked with berbere, the everyday pasta of Asmara.
TibsiCubes of beef seared hard with onion, green chili and berbere until the edges brown, an Eritrean celebration dish eaten with injera.
Browse all Eritrea recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Eritrea meal
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Shahi Eritrea?
Eritrean spiced tea steeped with cloves, cinnamon, and ginger and sweetened generously, a fragrant cup with an Italian-era accent.
Where does Shahi Eritrea come from?
Shahi Eritrea is a Eritrean dish from Asmara, Eritrea.
Can Shahi Eritrea be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Shahi Eritrea recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Shahi Eritrea safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Shahi Eritrea take to make?
About 17 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 12 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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