Week 158: Finjan Coffee
- elenalilamartin
- Jan 17
- 3 min read
Week 158: January 11th-17th, 2026
This week I got to try Finjan Coffee in Mission Valley. It shares a parking lot with Food4Less, so I witnessed its journey from when it was under construction to opening. Each time I would go get cheap groceries, I would see gradual changes to the space that used to be Fig Tree Cafe's Mission Valley location, and soon it became Tahini and Finjan Coffee!
From their website, it says that "Finjan, meaning coffee cup in Arabic...is our way of paying homage to our roots while indulging in the fuel behind Tahini’s success. In fact, you could say Finjan is really just our way of fueling our own caffeine addiction. So much so that we decided to share." Cute. Love it.
I needed some fuel before my monthly DIY car wash, so Finjan was a perfect place to check out.
(Sidebar PSA: Do NOT go through car washes with those flaps and brushes that touch your car! They can scratch and damage the car's paint! It is better to use a "no touch" car wash, or use the self-service stalls with the pressure washers!)
Most of the building is actually the Tahini restaurant part, but Finjan had a very cute little hallway-esque area for their coffee service.
Here is the @finjanco Instagram as well, if you want better photos or videos. A couple San Diego content creators have already posted videos about Finjan and those show the layout better than my pics do.
I sometimes get ordering paralysis where I give the menu a good examination and think I know what I want, but then I kind of black-out when I order. This was one of those times. I thought I was going to try a traditional Turkish coffee style drink, but I found myself ordering something very "me:" the Moroccan Mint Nitro Cold Brew and the Labne Toast.
The specials looked really good, also, but again... ordering paralysis. I will say props to whoever wrote the specials menu because their handwriting is very nice. I liked the nod to classic Arabic architecture with the arch detailing on the wall as well. They did have a lot of baklava options but I refrained from getting any. Not sure why I limited myself, because I still am thinking about how good the baklava looked now as I write this... So maybe I'll go back sooner than expected.
I do wish I got a classic Turkish coffee because it would have been fun to see them make it the traditional way, but I will just have to return. I still enjoyed my mint & green tea, even though it was not very "nitro" or "cold brew"-ish apart from the foam. It was refreshing and I'm a sucker for any mint drink. See: mojito. Also, the Labne toast was served on a cute branded plate. It was light and felt like a great source of fuel before my car wash.
While I only went to Finjan Coffee, I do want to try Tahini, which is the place that shares
the building with Finjan and serves Middle Eastern street food. I think the location is a bit tricky, because its a random shopping center with a Postal Annex and a Food4Less, and not many other restaurants or shops nearby. I suspect that is probably why the Fig Tree Cafe location closed in that same spot, but it was surprisingly busy at Finjan. I hope they do well!
See you next week.
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