Castelli Espresso 2 review: a very effective winter glove with some frustrating flaws

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The Castelli Espresso 2 gloves feature great fabrics, which worked very well to keep my hands dry and warm in testing.

They’re also decently water-resistant, although flaws include a loose-feeling liner and finger seams that can snag on shifter levers (albeit your hand shape and the fit will influence this).

You also need to pay a relatively high price of £100 / $100 / €100 for them, compared to some of the best winter gloves.

That said, if warmth, breathability and a healthy dose of waterproofing are what you need, they’re fundamentally a very good option.

Castelli Espresso 2 gloves details and specifications

The Castelli Espresso 2 winter gloves use a PFC/PFAS-free Polartec Neoshell fabric on the outside, and this is combined with PrimaLoft thermal insulation for warmth.

The Polartec outer is said to be waterproof to a 10,000mm water column rating, yet also very breathable (to the tune of 30,000g/m2/24h). Nevertheless, Castelli claims the gloves are windproof.

The upper features a zip for closure, which runs down from the wrist to between the index finger and thumb, although this is backed by a lining fabric to protect you from draughts.

There are silicone grippers on the palm to aid handlebar grip, with zones for the upper and lower palm, as well as the fingers.

That said, the Espresso 2 doesn’t have any pressure-relieving padding under these zones.

A pull tab features on the cuff to help pull the gloves on, and the cuff extends to cover jacket sleeve cuffs too.

The Castelli branding on the index finger is reflective and the zip is lined by reflective piping – although you can only have these gloves in black.

There’s also a rubberised nose-wipe zone in the index finger-thumb web area.

The Espresso 2 gloves are available in six sizes (XS-2XL), with an XL fitting me best, in line with the brand’s size guide.

Castelli Espresso 2 gloves performance

The Castelli Espresso 2 gloves are among the most expensive I’ve tested this season, but the fabric performance is impressive overall.

The Polartec Neoshell outer fabric is a proven performer in weather-resistant clothing and worked very well here, resisting rain very effectively, while breathing extremely well when it was cool and dry (as its rating suggests).

Castelli says the Espresso 2 is designed for use in temperatures of 3-10ºC, although I’d argue this is slightly conservative.

I was comfortable wearing the gloves while my bike computer showed 1ºC on the display, and I got hot hands at around the 8ºC mark. It’s worth noting I run quite warm, though.

I could open the zips to help let warm, moist air escape, but they aren’t the easiest to pull with one hand (especially with my left gloved hand pulling on my right glove’s zip), thanks to the lack of leverage and compromised dexterity.

Overall, dexterity is acceptable, although I found the seamed edges of the gloves would catch on my shifter levers.

There's a little excess insulated space at the fingertips – good for protection, but not so good for precise lever feel (this is a compromise every winter glove makes, to a degree).

Here, though, the liner feels slightly more removed from the outer fabric than many gloves, so I found my fingers would move inside the liner and slightly independently of the glove’s outer fabric. In turn, this makes control inputs feel vaguer than I’d like.

That said, it’s very soft and comfortable against the skin, and the palm gripper patterns offered excellent grip in all conditions.

I also appreciated the pull tab, which makes donning the gloves slightly easier than those where you need to pull on the cuff.

Sadly, the nose-wipe area isn’t particularly broad or soft – while the outer fabric of the glove is, this isn’t what I want to be rubbing my nose into on a ride given its technical properties.

There’s no denying the Espresso 2 is an expensive glove (especially in the UK, where it's priced higher than in the US or EU despite the relative strength of the currency).

It’s very effective, although I think you can get similar performance for less – consider the Scott Aqua GTX LF (£69.99 / $74.99 / €74.90) as a key competitor, while the Gore C5 Gore-Tex Thermo Gloves (£74.99 / $90 / €74.95) remain a compelling option among those I’ve tested, assuming you don’t want or need to go PFC/PFAS-free.

Castelli Espresso 2 gloves bottom line

The Castelli Espresso 2 is a very competent winter glove that delivers fabric performance in line with the steep price tag.

That said, there are better-value options and the liner feels curiously independent of the outer construction. I like the idea of the zip-fastening design, but it’s not easy to adjust on the move.

A good winter glove, then, but not without niggles.

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