Previous studies have presented the existence of degree of fermentation, quality and shelf life problems upon Ethiopian traditional beverage tella, and adversely affect the industrialization of tella in the beverage industry. In this study, Ethiopian traditional beverage tella was brewed in Ethiopian conformity assessment enterprise laboratory considering variation of cereals such as barley, corn, wheat, sorghum and teff to find the best cereals with respect to degree of fermentation, quality and shelf life. The study revealed tella prepared from teff demonstrated optimum degree of fermentation (% 60.32) and then produced higher ethanol content (%V/V 5.43) relative to others. Analyses of ethanol and pH values of the beverage were carried out after 20 days of storage with the intention of finding the optimum cereal regarding on shelf life. Therefore, traditional beverage prepared from wheat withstands the declining of pH value (3.43) within 20 days of storage compared with the others. Hence, tella prepared from wheat is the optimum cereal regarding on shelf life of the beverage. In the study, cereal variations significantly affect (P ≤ 0.05) RDF (%), ethanol (%V/V) and pH value of Ethiopian traditional beverage tella. Key words: Cereal, bikil, gesho, traditional beverage (tella), RDF (%), Ethanol (% V/V) and pH value.