Listen free for 30 days
-
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
- Narrated by: Arina Ii
- Series: Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Book 1
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £6.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Tales from the Café
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold
- By: Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot - translator
- Narrated by: Kevin Shen
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than 100 years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer.
-
-
loved it
- By Emma Brookes on 06-11-20
-
Pandora's Jar
- Women in the Greek Myths
- By: Natalie Haynes
- Narrated by: Natalie Haynes
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks, and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories. Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, from the Trojan War to Jason and the Argonauts. And still, today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost 3,000 years ago.
-
-
Story superb, author reading superb.
- By Anonymous User on 19-07-21
-
Recursion
- By: Blake Crouch
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom, Abby Craden
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All across the country, people are waking up to lives different than the ones they fell asleep to. Are they suffering from False Memory Syndrome, a mysterious, new disease that afflicts people with vivid memories of a life they never lived? Or is something far more sinister behind the fracturing of reality all around him? Miles away, neuroscientist Helena Smith is developing a technology that allows us to preserve our most intense memories and relive them. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.
-
-
Crouch Hones His Craft!
- By Simon on 18-06-19
-
The Cat Who Saved Books
- By: Sosuke Natsukawa, Louise Heal Kawai - translator
- Narrated by: Kevin Shen
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse. After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help.
-
-
Enjoyable, thoughtful and easy to listen
- By Sophie27 on 11-01-22
-
Malibu Rising
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malibu: August, 1983. It's the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.
-
-
Not for me
- By Handryer on 01-06-22
-
Convenience Store Woman
- By: Sayaka Murata
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Keiko. Keiko is 36 years old. She's never had a boyfriend, and she's been working in the same supermarket for eighteen years. Keiko's family wishes she'd get a proper job. Her friends wonder why she won't get married. But Keiko knows what makes her happy, and she's not going to let anyone come between her and her convenience store.
-
-
Fascinating book
- By Arlene Finnigan on 10-01-21
-
Tales from the Café
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold
- By: Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot - translator
- Narrated by: Kevin Shen
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than 100 years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer.
-
-
loved it
- By Emma Brookes on 06-11-20
-
Pandora's Jar
- Women in the Greek Myths
- By: Natalie Haynes
- Narrated by: Natalie Haynes
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks, and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories. Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, from the Trojan War to Jason and the Argonauts. And still, today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost 3,000 years ago.
-
-
Story superb, author reading superb.
- By Anonymous User on 19-07-21
-
Recursion
- By: Blake Crouch
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom, Abby Craden
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All across the country, people are waking up to lives different than the ones they fell asleep to. Are they suffering from False Memory Syndrome, a mysterious, new disease that afflicts people with vivid memories of a life they never lived? Or is something far more sinister behind the fracturing of reality all around him? Miles away, neuroscientist Helena Smith is developing a technology that allows us to preserve our most intense memories and relive them. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.
-
-
Crouch Hones His Craft!
- By Simon on 18-06-19
-
The Cat Who Saved Books
- By: Sosuke Natsukawa, Louise Heal Kawai - translator
- Narrated by: Kevin Shen
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse. After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help.
-
-
Enjoyable, thoughtful and easy to listen
- By Sophie27 on 11-01-22
-
Malibu Rising
- By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Malibu: August, 1983. It's the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.
-
-
Not for me
- By Handryer on 01-06-22
-
Convenience Store Woman
- By: Sayaka Murata
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Keiko. Keiko is 36 years old. She's never had a boyfriend, and she's been working in the same supermarket for eighteen years. Keiko's family wishes she'd get a proper job. Her friends wonder why she won't get married. But Keiko knows what makes her happy, and she's not going to let anyone come between her and her convenience store.
-
-
Fascinating book
- By Arlene Finnigan on 10-01-21
-
Mrs Death Misses Death
- By: Salena Godden
- Narrated by: Salena Godden
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mrs Death has had enough. She is exhausted from spending eternity doing her job, and now she seeks someone to unburden her conscience to. Wolf Willeford, a troubled young writer, is well acquainted with death but until now hadn't met Death in person - a Black, working-class woman who shape-shifts and does her work unseen. Enthralled by her stories, Wolf becomes Mrs Death's scribe and begins to write her memoirs. Using their desk as a conduit, Wolf travels across time and place with Mrs Death to witness deaths of past and present and discuss what the future holds for humanity.
-
-
Absolutely exquisite
- By Anonymous User on 08-04-21
-
Six Crimson Cranes
- Tiktok made me buy it!
- By: Elizabeth Lim
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shiori'anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs in her veins. And on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother. A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.
-
-
Lovely ideas but too many of them
- By JAggleton on 22-09-21
-
The Other Daughter
- By: Caroline Bishop
- Narrated by: Heather Long, Beth Eyre
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Jessica, a young British woman, discovers a shocking secret about her birth, she travels to Switzerland in search of answers. She knows her mother spent time in the country writing an article on the Swiss women’s rights movement, but what she doesn’t know is what happened to her while she was there. Can Jess summon the courage to face the truth about her family, or will her search only hurt herself and those around her even more?
-
-
Complex but rewarding dual timeline
- By Katharine Kirby on 24-04-22
-
The Wife's Choice
- By: Emma Davies
- Narrated by: Marie Hoffman
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Then: Twenty years ago, Alys’ husband, Sam, was in a terrible car accident that left him fighting for his life. His recovery was slow and painful, and just at the point when Alys began to hope, he sent her away, refusing to see her ever again for reasons she could never understand. Now: Married again and living in a new town with a new family, Alys feels like she’s sleepwalking through life. She’s just lost her job, her grown-up daughter is flying the nest, and her new husband doesn’t see - or even seem to care about - the downward spiral she is in.
-
-
Great, easy listen story.
- By coop on 25-03-21
-
A Burning
- The most electrifying debut of 2021
- By: Megha Majumdar
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam, Priya Ayyar, Deepti Gupta, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in contemporary India, A Burning is the story of three unforgettable characters, all dreaming of a better future, whose lives are changed for ever when they become caught up in the devastating aftermath of a terrorist attack. Jivan - a poor, young, Muslim girl, who dreams of going to college - faces a possible death sentence after being accused of collaborating with the terrorists. Lovely - an exuberant hijra who longs to be a Bollywood star - holds the alibi that can set Jivan free, but telling the truth will cost her everything she holds dear.
-
-
“Happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.” — Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge
- By Myra Walsh on 15-04-22
-
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong? Our narrator has many of the advantages of life: young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, she lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like everything else, by her inheritance. But there is a vacuum at the heart of things, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents in college, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her alleged best friend.
-
-
Miserable.
- By Amazon Customer on 06-01-20
-
Sputnik Sweetheart
- By: Haruki Murakami
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sumire is in love with a woman 17 years her senior. But whereas Miu is glamorous and successful, Sumire is an aspiring writer who dresses in an oversized second-hand coat and heavy boots like a character in a Kerouac novel. Sumire spends hours on the phone talking to her best friend K about the big questions in life: what is sexual desire, and should she ever tell Miu how she feels for her? Meanwhile K wonders whether he should confess his own unrequited love for Sumire. Then, a desperate Miu calls from a small Greek island: Sumire has mysteriously vanished....
-
-
Not one of Murakami's best books.
- By Thomas on 10-07-22
-
How Long 'til Black Future Month?
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Jeanette Illidge, Shayna Small, Robin Ray Eller, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption. In these stories, Jemisin sharply examines modern society, infusing magic into the mundane, and drawing deft parallels in the fantasy realms of her imagination. Dragons and hateful spirits haunt the flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
-
-
Loved this collection
- By Nancy Smith on 12-11-20
-
The Temptation to Be Happy
- By: Lorenzo Marone, Shaun Whiteside - translator
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cesare is 77 years old, a widower and cynical troublemaker, a man who has always had trouble caring for others and has given up trying. Aside from an intermittent fling with a mature nurse called Rossana, who moonlights as a sex worker, he prefers to live his own life, avoiding contact with his neighbors and even his own children wherever possible. Until one day, the enigmatic Emma moves into the neighboring flat.
-
The Way of Kings
- The Stormlight Archive, Book 1
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading
- Length: 45 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to mythology, mankind used to live in 'The Tranquiline Halls': heaven. But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms, but the Voidbringers followed. The Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, the Shardblades. Led by 10 angelic Heralds and 10 orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won (or so the legends say).
-
-
Brill
- By John on 19-11-11
-
The Woman in the Purple Skirt
- By: Natsuko Imamura
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ikeda
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The woman in the purple skirt seems to live in a world of her own. She appears to glide through crowded streets without acknowledging any reaction her presence elicits. Each afternoon, she sits on the same park bench, eating a pastry and ignoring the local children who make a game of trying to get her attention. She may not know it, but the woman in the purple skirt being watched. Someone is following her, always perched just out of sight, monitoring which buses she takes, what she eats, whom she speaks to.
-
-
Absolutely loved this quirky story
- By papapownall on 22-06-21
-
Sweet Bean Paste
- By: Durian Sukegawa, Alison Watts - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape.
Summary
What would you change if you could go back in time?
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than 100 years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’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 early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to 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 café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold.
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M. Atkinson
- 26-09-19
Just No
All the male characters are asses. Goro in the first chapter decides the best time to inform his girlfriend of three years that he has accepted a job in America, is on his way to the airport. In the second chapter, the character with Alzheimer's commits two acts of horrendous emotional harm, both of which are spoilers I can't specify. The third and fourth chapters are driven by characters who refuse, for no reason, to discuss PIVOTAL information with their loved ones. So, no. Not an enjoyable listen for me.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Julie
- 23-05-20
Time travel
You probably wouldn't notice this tiny Tokyo café if you just walked past. But according to an urban legend, you can travel in time here. But only if you sit in a particular chair, at a particular time, and remember to return to the present before the coffee gets cold. Who would you go see if you were able to travel back in time for a few minutes?
I really enjoyed this book. It reads a bit like watching a play - like we are watching a stage that is always the same, with characters coming and going. I actually really liked all the rules that has to be obeyed in order to time travel, and I liked that we don't get many answers as to why it is like it is. It's as if we just get to peek into this café for a little while, and then when we leave, it continues to exist without us.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- alice
- 20-12-19
Great story - read very slowly
Really enjoyed the story but I had to listen in x1.25 as the reader is very slow.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Billy-Ray McEvoy
- 05-04-22
Beautiful
Beautifully written story and very interesting concept. Time travel that is all about love, connections, and humanity.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- E.
- 20-02-22
intriguing story
Intriguing story with a happy ending.
The audio narrator did a great job.
i'd recommend this book.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Client d'Amazon
- 07-12-21
Tears streaming down my cheeks
Just like the Midnight Diner, expect some tearful moments...
very moving...
Eager to listen to the next book.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 02-11-21
Great premise
what a great story, I like how it all tied together even if it was quite predictable.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kerry
- 08-06-22
Sorry just didn't enjoy
Empty storyline and hammed up performance - not for me I'm afraid. Very sorry x
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lucy Matthews
- 19-05-22
Great story
Loved the concept, great tales how their lives intertwined and how going to the past changes them, occasionally a little annoying going over the rules constantly but overall great listen.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Miss RKL
- 28-09-21
the best book I've ever read!
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.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kim Stone
- 13-03-22
Listened for Work Book Club
New to me author. This was a book club read. MF time travel story about a Japanese coffee shop and the people who work there.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Sharon Spear
- 21-04-21
Not my cup of Coffee
Painfully slow, I really struggled with this book. There was not a single part I liked.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Claudia Pino
- 07-01-21
Special
An unusual premise, a bittersweet story. I have a renewed appreciation of using time wisely, saying things when they have to be said, and not letting opportunities escape, after reading this book.