COFFEE BEANS & BEINGS / TORQUE COFFEE MINDS ITS OWN BUSINESS

In San Diego’s "coffee mecca," where North Park meets City Heights, Torque Coffee is doing something different. Located on a loosening-the-collar stretch of El Cajon Boulevard, it’s a spot that trades the usual café polish for a more inventive, coffee lab vibe. The place spends its well earned cash on experimentation and not decor.

The 'hood is not shabby by any means but it's not surrounded by glam showrooms. What Torque is is what it actually is: a working wholesale roastery that happens to have a front door (cafe) open to the public.  Located near Swift Avenue, the old bones of a building has been restored to something the neighborhood can be proud of.  That's called hard work.

Torque started quietly back in 2022 as a roasting operation. 

Owners Andy and Nanelle Newborn built their name on the beans first, focusing on green coffee sourcing and transparent pay for farmers. Their café space followed about a year later, but it maintains that "industrial-hum" energy. 

It’s a place for Mid City regulars, laptops, and the occasional patient dog. Coffee here is born from experimentation. They lean into the "off-center," with fruit-forward single origins and anaerobic processes that aim for clarity over trends. 

Small shop, cool design, big heart

Their menu pushes boundaries, too: Honey-driven lattes with a resinous, lingering finish. Banana-toned brews that focus more on aroma than sweetness. Curated non-coffee options like matcha and botanical "zero-proof" drinks. 

Even the food—mostly plant-forward waffles, burritos, and pastries—is designed to support the coffee, not distract from it. 

But the real twist for Torque is their philosophy on pricing. They’ve been true to a model that sends a significant share of revenue back to producers. And that's baked into their identity. They aren't trying to be everything to everyone—keeping a rhythm that avoids late-night pretension.  They're proud of serving quality coffee that they've roasted but they are also part of a new generation of coffee shops that are loyal to the coffee growers and to coffee shop customers. That's genuine fair trade in action and not lip service.  

Mind the Cup:

Honor the grower.

Taste the difference.

THE BASICS 

Location: 3459 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104 

Hours: Mon–Thu: 7:00 AM – 2:00 PM; Fri: 7:00 AM – 4:00 PM; Sat–Sun: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM. 

Menu Highlights: Cortados, single-origin pour-overs, "WACOs" (waffle tacos), and botanical zero-proof cocktails. Website: torquecoffee.com 

Phone: 619-230-5400

Torque offers public tastings, usually on Saturday mornings but call shop
for exact date and time.

FRIDAY FILM / WHO DUNNIT REVEALED FROM THE START

Actress Sarah Parish as Brit Detective Superintendant Elizabeth Bancroft

Just when the BritBox crime catalog begins to blur into a familiar parade of brooding detectives, gray skies, and interchangeable corpses, Bancroft arrives with a sly reversal of the form. From the opening moments, the series tips its hand—we know who did it. And yet, rather than draining the tension, that early reveal sharpens it.   

What follows is not a whodunit, but a how-long-can-this-hold-together. The pleasure shifts from guessing the culprit to watching the machinery of deception grind forward, one lie feeding the next. Sarah Parish’s Detective Superintendent Elizabeth Bancroft is no standard-issue investigator; she is the storm at the center of the case, commanding, calculating, and just unsteady enough to keep us leaning in.   

The real trick of Bancroft is its refusal to coast on its premise. Even with the cards on the table, the series finds ways to unsettle expectations, layering in reversals and moral compromises that keep the narrative taut. Alliances shift. Motives deepen. What seemed settled begins to fray.   

Well done, indeed—a crime drama that proves suspense isn’t about what you don’t know, but how long the truth can be held at bay.