the thesis ↓
Stop the burn.
Save the meal.
Sooz is the world’s first spice-relief beverage — invented in 2025 at Rice University. A single sachet, dissolved in cold water, covers the whole arc of a spicy meal: the bite, the stomach, the morning.
eat spice. drink sooz.
The gap
For too long, spicy food has been a battle.
Capsaicin doesn’t just hit your mouth. It moves — throat, stomach, places we will not name. Milk handles the first second. After that, you’re alone with the consequences.
We thought hot food deserved a sidekick that covered the whole meal, not just the first sip-of-milk moment. So we built one.
What it does
Mouth → gut → morning.
five ingredients, each earning its spot ↓
mouth
Sodium caseinate
A milk-derived protein that binds capsaicin in the mouth — the first stop, the first sip of relief.
esophagus
Sodium alginate
A seaweed-derived polysaccharide that forms a protective gel along the esophagus and stomach lining.
stomach acid
Sodium citrate
A buffering agent that neutralizes the excess acid that turns a meal into a problem.
mucosa
Aloe vera
Coats and soothes mucosal lining end-to-end. The kindness layer.
lower gut
Psyllium husk
Soluble fiber that lines your gut and helps cushion the ride on the way out. Your toilet will thank you.
the trick
Just add water.
One sachet, 8–12 oz cold water, sip during the meal. One spicy meal. Zero next-day apologies.
04 · The product
One stick. One spicy meal.
Every Sooz pack is a single-serve stick — 1 oz / 28 g net — designed to travel flat in a pocket and tear cleanly from the top. Strawberry is the flavor in production now. More on the way.
hold one with your name on it ↓
05 · Story
Born from tofu. Built with science.
2025
Risus Zhao took one too-confident bite of spicy tofu in China. Three days of consequences later, he had a thesis: spicy food shouldn’t be a battle.
Earlier that summer, Risus and Mo had crossed paths. They reconnected back at Rice in New Enterprises, a class inside the Liu Idea Lab that requires every student to join a startup by week two. Mo had been planning to launch independently. When Risus pitched the concept to the room, it landed — Mo had spent his own annual trips to Nigeria and Gambia paying for spice he loved.
Mo joined on the spot.
The two of them mapped the entire spicy-meal experience, stage by stage, and went looking for a formula that could push back at every one. By early 2026 they had a workable product with real spice-relief efficacy. Sodium caseinate, sodium alginate, sodium citrate, aloe vera, psyllium husk — each ingredient earns its spot.
“We’re a brand made by two people who love hot food and hate what comes after. Everything we ship is a tiny rebellion against that second part.”
06 · Receipts
What’s real, today.
07 · Where it lives