Where to go when an order needs a second look: pouch sizes and grind coarseness, batch notes, recipe cards that did not arrive, or a repeat basket that needs adjusting before it ships.
Most of what lands in the inbox is about grind, heat and how long a pouch stays good once it is opened. Here are the answers we send most often. If yours is not here, the contact page is the fastest route.
Yes. Berbere comes in medium and fine, mitmita is milled fine by default, and shiro powder is always fine. Add a note at checkout if you want a coarser berbere for slow simmering, or a finer one for dry rubs and kitfo. We grind small runs to order, so the note reaches the mill before your pouch is filled.
Noticeably hotter. Mitmita leans on bird's eye chili with korerima and clove, and it is meant as a finishing spice rather than a base. Berbere carries more warmth and sweetness from besobela and tikur azmud, so it works as the backbone of doro wat and misir wot. If you are new to either, start with the 100g pouch and adjust from there.
Every pouch lists the harvest month, the drying method and the grind coarseness, plus the growing area, whether that is Gondar, Wolkite or the Rift Valley. It is there so you know what is in the bag before you cook with it, and so you can match a batch to a recipe that suits its character.
Keep it sealed, away from the stove and out of direct sun. The resealable pouches hold aroma well for several months, but ground blends fade faster than whole spices. If you cook Ethiopian food a few times a month, the 250g size tends to finish before the flavour drops off. Whole korarima keeps far longer than ground.
Most orders ship with cards for doro wat, misir wot and kitfo. The starter bundle always includes the full set, and single pouches usually get one or two relevant cards. If you want a specific recipe included, mention it in the order note and we will add it.
The cart handles mixed pouches, gift sets and repeat orders without any extra steps. You can combine berbere, mitmita, shiro and korarima in one basket and pick heat levels per item. For repeat orders, the batch note on your last pouch is the quickest reference for reordering the same grind.
Still unsure which blend fits your kitchen? Reach us through the contact page, or read how we handle your details in our privacy policy.
Support questions usually come down to a handful of terms we use loosely on product pages. Here is what they actually mean before you write to us or place an order.
Medium grind is what most berbere pouches ship as, and it blooms fast in warm niter kibbeh. Fine grind is reserved for mitmita and any blend you plan to dust over meat. If a recipe calls for whole spices, order the whole version and mill it yourself; we do not split a single pouch between two grinds.
Every pouch carries the harvest month, drying method and grind on the label. Two orders of the same 250g berbere can come from different harvests, so colour and heat will shift slightly between batches. That is normal for smallholder sourcing around Gondar, Wolkite and the Rift Valley, not a defect.
Heat is set per blend, not per pouch. Mitmita is the hotter option and is milled fine for kitfo and tibs. Berbere sits milder and sweeter, built for slow sauces. We do not offer a custom heat scale, so if you are new to Ethiopian cooking, the starter bundle is the safer first order.
Pouches come in 100g, 250g and 500g. The resealable strip keeps aroma in once opened, but ground spices still fade over months. For households cooking doro wat or misir wot once a week, 250g is usually the practical size; 500g suits regular kitfo or shiro cooking.
The cart handles mixed blends, gift sets and repeat orders in one checkout. Recipe cards ship with most orders, covering doro wat, misir wot and kitfo. If you are sending a gift set to a different address, note it at checkout rather than in a follow-up message.
We cannot guarantee a specific harvest month on a given order, and we do not hold stock aside for future dates. If a batch note matters for a recipe you are testing, mention it when you write to info@ethiospices.com and we will tell you what is currently on the shelf.