Grinding to order, batch notes on every pouch, recipe cards in the box, and mixed baskets that let you build an Ethiopian pantry one blend at a time.
Every pouch leaves the mill with a batch note: harvest month, drying method, grind coarseness. You pick the heat level, we grind to order, and the resealable bag keeps the aroma steady between cooking sessions. Here is what that means in practice.
Not sure where to start? The starter bundle covers the four staples most recipes assume you already have, and you can ask us about a specific grind before you fill a basket.
Harvest month, drying method and grind coarseness are printed on the label, so you know whether a berbere was mat-dried in Gondar or milled finer for a specific dish before it reaches your kitchen.
Mitmita can arrive as a fine powder for kitfo or a coarser cut for tibs. Tell us the heat you cook with and the mill runs your batch that way instead of shipping a one-size bag.
Resealable 100g, 250g and 500g pouches. The small bag suits testing a new blend, the large one holds up for households cooking doro wat and misir wot through the month.
Most orders ship with cards for doro wat, misir wot and kitfo, written around the exact grind and pouch size you bought, so the first cook is not guesswork.
The cart handles blends from different mills in one order, splits gift sets from your own pantry restock, and remembers a repeat basket so reordering korarima or shiro powder takes a minute.
Growers and cooperative mills around Gondar, Wolkite and the Rift Valley supply the chilies, korarima and besobela, and the batch note ties each pouch back to a harvest rather than a bulk bin.
Nothing sits pre-ground on a shelf. Every order moves through the same short chain, and the batch note that lands in your pouch is written along the way.
Mix berbere, mitmita, shiro powder, korarima, besobela, tikur azmud and koseret in 100g, 250g or 500g pouches. Gift sets and repeat orders go in the same cart, so a household restock and a present for a friend travel together.
Medium or fine, whole or ground. Mitmita usually goes fine for kitfo and tibs; berbere stays medium so it blooms properly in niter kibbeh. Tell us if a recipe needs a coarser texture and we adjust the mill setting.
Small runs at cooperative mills near Wolkite and Gondar, using stock from smallholder growers across the Rift Valley. Harvest month, drying method and grind coarseness get recorded per batch before the pouch is sealed.
Resealable pouches go out with cards for doro wat, misir wot and kitfo, plus the batch note for each spice. Most orders reach Johannesburg and Cape Town kitchens with the aroma still sharp on opening.
Curious how a single blend is put together? Read the notes on the Berbere Blend, Medium Grind, or send a question through the contact page before you fill a basket.
Feedback from home kitchens in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, mostly about how a blend behaved in the pan rather than how the parcel looked on arrival.
Berbere, 250g, medium grind
I had been buying berbere from a general grocer and could never get doro wat to taste like my aunt's. The batch note said the chilies were dried on raised mats in Gondar, and the colour when it hit the niter kibbeh was noticeably deeper. Two tablespoons was enough for a pot that used to take four.
Naledi M., Johannesburg
Mitmita, 100g, fine grind
Ordered the fine grind for kitfo and it coats the meat evenly instead of clumping on top. Heat is real, so I keep it to a teaspoon per portion. The resealable pouch has held its punch for about four months now, which is longer than the loose stuff I used to keep in a jar.
Sipho D., Cape Town
Starter bundle
I had never cooked Ethiopian food before and did not want to buy five separate bags to find out whether I liked it. The bundle covered berbere, mitmita, shiro and whole korarima, and the recipe cards for misir wot and kitfo were the part I actually used. Ground the korarima fresh for the shiro and it made a clear difference.
Riaan P., Pretoria
Shiro powder, 500g
We cook shiro most Fridays, so the 500g pouch made more sense than topping up a small bag every few weeks. Mixed with the berbere from the same order, it thickened faster than the brand I used before and needed less stirring. The batch note on grind coarseness was useful for judging how much water to add.
Hanna T., Durban
Mixed order, repeat customer
Third order now. I take besobela and tikur azmud whole and grind them myself, and the berbere ready-ground. Keeping both in one basket is the reason I stopped splitting my shopping between two shops. Nothing has arrived damp or caked, even in a wet Cape winter.
Yohannes A., Cape Town
Gift set for a friend
Sent a gift set to a friend who had just moved into her first flat. She reported back that the korarima smelled like cardamom but sharper, and that the recipe card for doro wat walked her through the onions properly. Small thing, but the pouches fit her narrow kitchen shelf.
Lerato K., Johannesburg