Call me crazy, but I drink iced coffee and cold brew year-round. I usually make my iced coffee at home to avoid the coffee shop budget drain, rotating between my cold-brew machine and premade coffee concentrates. My only gripe with store-bought concentrates? They’re not always good.
I’ve found that some bottled cold brews are acidic and bitter, extremely weak, or have an odd, off-putting taste. And then I discovered Kloo, a craft coffee brand that treats concentrates like fine wine. No matter which roast I choose, I find that my iced coffee is consistently rich, smooth, and full of flavor. And because it takes just seconds to prepare, I don’t feel rushed in the morning and can take my time savoring its layered flavors.
What makes Kloo different
Founded by Q grader (essentially a coffee sommelier) Mariella Cho, Kloo uses only specialty-grade coffee beans, which are considered the gold standard by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). Specialty grade beans are evaluated by Q graders on factors such as acidity, aroma, and flavor, and the best are given an SCA score of at least 80. Kloo ensures that its concentrates are of the highest quality by only using beans with a minimum SCA score of 85.
Kloo sources its beans from Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Guatemala and roasts them to bring out their unique flavor profiles. The beans are then brewed in small batches to create a coffee concentrate, and here’s where Kloo differs from most other roasters and concentrate brands: Like wine, Kloo’s concentrate then undergoes an aging process to give it more depth and enhance its notes. The result is a range of light- and medium-roast concentrates that are as complex as Cabernet.
Each concentrate is named for its region of origin: Colombia has notes of almond, maple syrup, and blackberry; Kenya balances bright lemongrass and grapefruit flavors with bitter dark chocolate; Ethiopia is fruit-forward, with peach, wild berry, and jasmine; and Guatemala begins with deep notes of burnt toast and dark chocolate and finishes with a sweet toffee aftertaste.
My absolute favorite, however, is Ethiopia Wine, a limited edition concentrate made with rare coffee beans from the Gesha region. The beans are fermented for 92 hours, producing refined notes of chocolate, Gruyère, and Pinot Noir. Every sip feels very sophisticated, as if I’m drinking the Cadillac of cold brews.
The Kloo experience
I sometimes use a pod machine or filtered pitcher to make iced coffee in the morning, but Kloo makes the process so much quicker.
Each bottle comes with a jigger, so I can measure a precise shot of concentrate to add to my 7.5 ounces of water. Then I give the glass a stir, drop in a handful of ice and a splash of oat milk, and my iced coffee is ready. The drink isn’t lukewarm or overly diluted by ice, as sometimes happens when I use a pod machine, and there’s no need to steep grounds 24 hours ahead. It all comes together instantly and effortlessly, so my day gets off to a relaxing start. Best of all, cleanup is a breeze, since I only have to wash my glass and rinse the jigger.
How it compares to other cold-brew concentrates
One of the main issues I have with homemade iced coffee and store-bought concentrates is that the flavor tends to be one-dimensional. I usually only taste the roast style—light, medium, dark—or the coffee strength. Kloo’s flavor is more nuanced and multilayered, which is why it provides customers with a “flavor decoder” card that details the emergent notes in each of its concentrates.
I sampled all of Kloo’s roasts at the same time, and even before looking at the decoder, I could immediately taste the nuttiness of Colombia, the fruitiness of Ethiopia, and the mouth-puckering dark chocolate of Kenya. There was nothing flat about these concentrates. Each tasted different from the other, and after looking at the decoder, even more flavors began to come forward, like buttery toffee, juicy peach, and red wine.
While Kloo’s bottles are smaller than most concentrates you’d buy at the grocery store, I like that they don’t take up much space on my refrigerator shelf (though they are a bit tricky to keep upright with their slim bottoms). And because it’s such a small quantity and I live alone, I’m able to use up all the concentrate before it expires.
How much does it cost?
Each 8.5-ounce bottle of Kloo coffee concentrate makes 12 cups of hot or cold coffee and can be purchased individually for $33 ($39 for Ethiopia Wine) or as a subscription; tasting sets are also available. Bottles ship for free and are packed on ice to protect the concentrate’s flavor. Each order includes a jigger and the flavor decoder card, which provides information about the coffee roast and the flavors you’ll experience.
Final thoughts
At $2.75 a glass, Kloo’s concentrate is actually cheaper than buying iced coffee at a coffee shop, and I find the flavor to be far superior. Kloo coffee isn’t meant to be guzzled quickly; instead, I take my time to really enjoy it. If you’re looking to make elite iced coffee drinks with zero effort, it’s time you got a Kloo.