🥤 DRINK
Tan (Armenian Herbed Yogurt Drink)
Tangy matsun blended with cucumber, fresh herbs, salt and cold water into a savoury, green-flecked summer cooler for the khorovats table.
Armenian · easy · serves 6
prep 10 min · cook 0 min · plus 1 h hands-off time
~81 cal · 4g protein · 8g carbs · 4g fat · 0g fiber · 6g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Tan is Armenia's summer drink, a cold, salted drink made from matsun, the tart Armenian cultured milk. Summers in Armenia are hot, and a jug of tan on the table is the standard answer, drunk with grilled khorovats, rice dishes and anything rich, where the salt and sourness cut through the fat.
At its simplest it is just matsun thinned with cold water, still or sparkling, and seasoned with salt. Many Armenian families go further and blend in cucumber and fresh greens, parsley, mint or dill, which turns it into something between a drink and a chilled soup, pale and flecked with green. It belongs to the same family as the salted yogurt drinks found from Turkey to Iran, but tan, with its matsun base and its herbs, is its own.
It is best made an hour ahead and chilled, and it is often poured into ceramic mugs, which keep it cold for longer on a hot afternoon.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg-, nut- 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 6
- 3 cups matsun, or plain whole-milk yogurt
- 1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
- a handful fresh parsley, mint or dill
- 3/4 tsp fine salt, to taste
- 4 cups cold water, still or sparkling mineral water
Instructions
- 1Put the matsun, cucumber, herbs and salt in a blender with about half a cup of the water and blend for 1 to 2 minutes, until completely smooth.✎ Chef’s noteFor the plain everyday tan, skip the cucumber and herbs and simply whisk the matsun with the water and salt.
- 2Pour into a jug and stir in the rest of the water. Taste and add more salt if needed; it should be distinctly savoury.✎ Chef’s noteSparkling mineral water, mixed about one to one with the matsun, gives a livelier, lightly fizzy tan.
- 3Cover and chill for at least 1 hour, so the flavours settle and it is properly cold.
- 4Stir well, as it separates on standing, and pour into ceramic mugs or glasses. Serve very cold with khorovats or any grilled meat, and drink it within a day.
Armenian home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Yerevan. Ghapama is festive before it is seasonal, made mostly for New Year's Eve and the run up to Armenian Christmas on 6 January. The name means cooked in a covered pot, the pumpkin's own top goes back on as the lid, and the dish is loved enough to have a folk song attached to it.
🗺️
Armenia. Lavash was inscribed by UNESCO in 2014, and the inscription describes the whole practice: groups of women rolling the dough thin, stretching it over an oval cushion and slapping it onto the wall of a tonir, the conical clay oven sunk into the ground. It dries flat and keeps for months, and it is laid across the shoulders of newlyweds as a wish for prosperity.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Armenia
Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin)A whole pumpkin packed with rice, dried apricots, walnuts, and honey, baked until the shell is a spoonable bowl.
KhorovatsArmenian barbecue: marinated pork or lamb grilled over vine coals with fire-roasted vegetables.
Zhingyalov HatsThin flatbread stuffed with a dozen or more chopped herbs and greens, griddled until blistered.
Browse all Armenia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it an Armenia meal
KhorovatsDinner
Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin)Dessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Tan (Armenian Herbed Yogurt Drink)?
Tangy matsun blended with cucumber, fresh herbs, salt and cold water into a savoury, green-flecked summer cooler for the khorovats table.
Where does Tan (Armenian Herbed Yogurt Drink) come from?
Tan (Armenian Herbed Yogurt Drink) is an Armenian dish from Yerevan, Armenia.
Can Tan (Armenian Herbed Yogurt Drink) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Tan (Armenian Herbed Yogurt Drink) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Tan (Armenian Herbed Yogurt Drink) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Tan (Armenian Herbed Yogurt Drink) take to make?
About 1 h 10 min in all: 10 minutes prep and 0 minutes cooking, plus 1 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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