Exploring Life & Business with Claudia Snoh of Kloo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Snoh

Hi Claudia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The story of Kloo began through my mother’s extensive 15-year journey in the coffee industry as a roaster, barista, and Q Grader. During COVID, while I was working on a response project at McKinsey and lamenting about the lack of access to good coffee, my mother had been quietly experimenting with what would become our proprietary brewing process. When she shared her prototype concentrate with me, I was instantly struck by its exceptional flavor profile, smoothness, and the distinct origin notes that shone through – all without requiring any special equipment or technique to prepare. While that first taste convinced me this was something that needed to be shared with the world, it took another year or two before we decided to turn this passion into a business together. What’s remarkable is that even though I was amazed by those initial prototypes, our current Craft Coffee Concentrate has evolved through hundreds of iterations to become even more exceptional.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest challenge in scaling our D2C channel has been managing our unexpectedly high demand against our current production capacity. As a vertically integrated company handling everything from sourcing to roasting to brewing in our LA facility, we’ve actually had to limit our marketing efforts and be highly selective with partnerships to ensure we can fulfill orders while maintaining quality. While we explored working with co-packers like many food and beverage companies do, we found the quality and taste didn’t meet our standards. The good news is that we have a clear path to scale most aspects of our production through equipment upgrades, while keeping our proprietary brewing process our unique advantage – similar to how Coca-Cola maintains control of their secret syrup formula while partnering with authorized bottlers for distribution.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Kloo is a craft coffee concentrate brand I founded with my mother Mariella, who is a certified Q Grader – essentially the master sommelier of the coffee world. This is an incredibly rare credential with only a few hundred people holding it in the United States, requiring passing over 20 rigorous tests of knowledge, smell, and taste. As a Q Grader, she’s certified to grade coffee beans using a system similar to how diamonds are graded.

We’re on a mission to decode the complexity of craft coffee by offering the highest quality coffee in the easiest format possible. Our hero product is our Craft Coffee Concentrate – a single-origin super concentrate that’s 12 times more concentrated than normal coffee. Instead of filling your entire cup with coffee, you simply pour one small shot and add hot or iced water to fill the rest of your cup.

What truly sets us apart is that we handle all the complex work – sourcing the highest-grade rare beans, roasting them to perfection, and brewing them using our proprietary process – so that all you have to do is pour, sip, and discover flavors that suit your unique palate. We’ve made sommelier-grade coffee accessible without sacrificing quality or flavor.

What matters most to you?
What matters most to us at Kloo is transforming how people experience coffee by bringing wine culture into the coffee world. In America, coffee is typically viewed as a utilitarian morning necessity – something bitter you endure for the caffeine. This is completely different from how people approach wine or whiskey, which are savored for their complex flavors, discussed with enthusiasm, and explored with genuine curiosity.
We’re dedicated to shifting this coffee conversation from caffeine to flavor through two key approaches. First, by making sommelier-grade, genuinely flavorful coffee accessible to everyone. Second, by providing educational tools like our flavor decoder that help people learn about coffee and discover which origins best match their unique palate.
Our guiding principle is that coffee deserves the same respect and appreciation as fine wine – what we call “the sommelier treatment you deserve.” This mission drives everything we do, from our sourcing and brewing methods to how we present and talk about our products. We believe that once people experience truly exceptional coffee and understand what makes it special, they’ll never look at their daily cup the same way again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drinkkloo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drinkkloo/