Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Step into a quaint little café tucked away in a narrow alley in Tokyo, where the aroma of meticulously brewed coffee has been delighting patrons for over a hundred years. This is no ordinary coffee shop; it offers an extraordinary experience: the chance to travel back in time.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold introduces us to a spellbinding narrative centred around four unique visitors, each drawn to the café by the allure of its time-travelling promise. These individuals harbour deep desires to reconnect with significant moments and people from their pasts. One wishes to confront the man who left her, another seeks to receive a long-lost letter from a husband whose memory has been ravaged by early onset Alzheimer's. A third guest longs to see her sister one final time, while the fourth yearns to meet the daughter she never had the chance to know.

However, this journey through time carries its own set of intricate rules. Customers must sit in a designated seat, remain within the café, and crucially, return to the present before the coffee gets cold. These constraints add a layer of tension and urgency to their compelling quests for closure and understanding.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi crafts a beautiful, moving story that delves into the timeless question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? Each character’s poignant journey explores themes of love, loss, and the immutable nature of time, asking the readers to ponder who they would want to meet, maybe for one last time. The novel is not just about changing the past but about treasuring the fleeting moments of the present.

This gentle yet thought-provoking tale, resonating deeply with emotions, has captivated readers worldwide, becoming one of the most popular BookTok sensations on TikTok in 2022. As you turn the pages, you will find yourself engrossed in a rich tapestry of human experiences and the heartfelt connections that bind us all. Kawaguchi’s narrative invites readers to reflect deeply on their own lives and the precious, fleeting nature of time.