Before the Coffee Gets Cold cover art

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Book 1

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About this listen

The cosy, heartwarming first book in the multi-million copy bestselling series.

What would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time? Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold, translated from Japanese, explores this age-old question . . .


In a cosy back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

Prepare to meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the cafe’s time-travelling offer in order to:
- confront the man who left them
- receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by Alzheimer's
- see their sister one last time
- meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat. They cannot leave the cafe. And finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

‘This book broke my heart, took the pieces, and put them back together in a messy and beautiful way. . . ' - well.read.woman on Instagram

Continue the beautifully moving storytelling with Tales from the Cafe, Before Your Memory Fades, Before We Say Goodbye and Before We Forget Kindness.

**Before I knew I loved you, the sixth book in the series, is available to pre-order now!**

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Critic reviews

Heartwarming, whimsical . . . offering comfort at a time when the world seems off-kilter and chaotic
All stars
Most relevant
During the first chapter I wondered whether to give up. However, the story develops quite intriguingly by the end.

Stick at it

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bought the book physically first and fell in love with it finished it in less than a week. wanted to read it again but didn't and couldn't have time to sit down and read it again so I bought the audio version.

the best book I've ever read!

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Narration was good, unassuming which suited the story.

Sweet little storyline, exploring people's motivations to travel through time.

A simple, quietly considered novella

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it was an enjoyable read the only fault was sometimes I found the english to simple and repetitive along with this the chapters had been quite long would rather they had split it into sections for the 4 parts and had chapters throughout. Would recommend however and would read again further down the line

Great Concept, Wise Lesson

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Beautiful story. Worth reading! Lends to a lot of wonderful discussions, especially if read in a book club. Recommend!

Clever

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