'Borde' and 'Shamita' are two of the traditional Ethiopian fermented beverages commonly consumedrnin the southern part of the country. They are thick in consistency, consumed while activelyrnfermenting and have served as meal replacement. The ingredients for 'borde' and 'shamita'rnpreparation are usually maize (or wheat) and barely, respectively.rnThe dominant organisms isolated during 'borde' fermentation belonged to the genus Bacillus,rnMicrococcus, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Staphylo~occus, Saccharmoyces, Rhodotomla andrnmembers of Enterobacteriaceae. With drop in pH of 'borde' from 5.2 to 3.6, the count of some ofrnthese dominant organisms increased markedly while few were inhibited. Likewise, 'shamita'rnfermentation was dominated by bacteria of the genus Bacillus, both homo- and hetrofermentativernLactobacillus, Staphylococcus, }yficrococcus, members of Enterobacteriaceae and yeasts of therngenus Saccharomyces. As the pH dropped from 5.82 to 3.98, increase in counts of certain groups andrndecrease in other groups was noted. Members of Enterobacteriaceae were inhibited earlier duringrnfermentation of both beverages.rnThe ingredients and equipment used for fermentation contributed to the microbial flora. The majorrngroups of organisms isolated from equipment (earthen jar) were Micrococcus, Saccharomyces,rnRilOdotorula and members of Enterobacteriaceae with counts as high as 10' in most groups. Bacillusrnand bacterial spores dominated spicesrnand heat treated cereal ingredients with spore counts in the range of 2xIO'-9.9xIO' and 2x102-rn2.5xIO', respectively. Barley malt contributed almost all of the dominant microbial isolates includingrnBacillus, Staphylococcus, Micrococcus, heterofermentative Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, bacterialrnspores, Saccharomyces and RllOdotorula.rnNutritionally, the concentration of reducing sugars decreased with time in both beverages; thernavailability of soluble protein appeared to increase initially with gradual decrease in the later s'tagesrnduring 'shamita' fermentation (37.2 to 30.6 mg/ml). The difference were not considerable in 'borde'.rnThe percent ash content appeared higher in 'shamita' than 'borde' with moderate lipolytic activities inrnboth beverages.rnLocally collected 'shamita' samples were found to have microbial similarity to the laboratory brewedrnproducts with slightly higher microbial count in the collected samples.rnThe low cost of both beverages, the role they playas meal replacement and their popularity amongrnmost economically deprived people make these beverages good candidates for production on a largescale.rnBut identification of microorganisms responsible for their fermentation and assessment of thernproduction procedures are among the preliminary steps that need investigation.