The Tenn Outdoors Espresso jersey uses a fabric derived from coffee beans to provide a comfortable, low-pong riding shirt with eco-friendly credentials.

“It’s actually made of coffee…”

Out of all the new kit vying for our attention at Eurobike, some less desirable than others, Tenn Outdoors made us really perk up. Despite not being actual roasted Colombian beans, their riding gear got our hearts racing. (That’s enough caffeine-related gags – Ed.)

The Espresso jersey is intended as an all-day riding top, so to put it through its paces we went racing downhill in it. Not quite the same thing, but a downhill day’s mix of gassing through technical singletrack like a sweaty nutter and sitting around is a good test of the comfort of a jersey. If it dries slowly, you get cold and if it’s going to get stinky you sure know about it by the end of the day.

By this point you are probably wondering what we’re going on about with the coffee, so stick the kettle on and let’s get down to it.

The S.Café® fabric comes from an eco-friendly background. S Café say that 7.6 million tons of the good stuff are produced each year, and the majority of the waste goes to landfill. By incorporating waste coffee into the fabric, they extend the use of the bean, and the coffee fibres absorb odour indefinitely.

Waste coffee grounds are incorporated into the fibres during production, and as your sweat passes through the fabric smells are ‘sucked’ into the pores. To anyone who’s been foolish enough to store ground coffee in the fridge, this makes sense – the coffee ends up tasting of the other fridge contents.

Here’s S.Café’s explanatory video on the fabric’s pong-removing and other properties:

And it certainly seems to work. The jersey is comfortable on the bike, and after a day’s enthusiastic thrashing it doesn’t pong too much.

The Espresso jersey uses S.Café fabric on the front and back, with side panels made of a more standard polyester. Under the hem there’s the welcome addition of a sunglass friendly cloth.

Our size medium sample fitted well, but perhaps could’ve been slightly more fitted and the long arms did feel a bit loose. This top would be great as a 3/4 design and I spent most of the day with the sleeves pulled up.

At the end of a rather humid, damp day of constant pedalling we felt dry and the material had done its job of wicking away the sweat – it would only be better if it actually smelt of coffee!

Verdict

A great buy for your riding closet and at £39.99 we were also pleasantly surprised on the value.

Pros

Eco-friendly material
Reduces post-ride pong
Light feel
Great value

Cons

An overall closer fit would be welcome

More information: Tenn Outdoors Espresso jersey
Sizes: Men’s S – 3XL; Women’s 8-18
Options: Short-sleeve version (£37.99); women’s version; also in brown.
Price:  £39.99