Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Must-Read Japanese Fiction Sale

Save 20% on the best modern fiction by Japanese authors, recommended by Powell's staff.

*OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD*

*NOW AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*

If you could go back, who would you want to meet?

In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee — the chance to travel back in time.

Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of making that journey. But time travel isn't so simple, and there are rules that must be followed. Most important, the trip can last only as long as it takes for the coffee to get cold.

Heartwarming, wistful, mysterious and delightfully quirky, Toshikazu Kawaguchi's internationally bestselling novel explores the age-old question: What would you change if you could travel back in time?

"Kawaguchi's tender look at the beauty of passing things, adapted from one of his plays, makes for an affecting, deeply immersive journey into the desire to hold onto the past. [A] wondrous tale." Publishers Weekly

"This quiet, powerful book encourages readers to overcome difficulties in the present and say what needs to be said before it's too late." Shelf Awareness

"Heartwarming, quirky, and wistful."

"A charming novel about a mysterious Japanese coffee shop in which customers who sit in a certain chair can go back in time — but just while their coffee is cooling." Star Tribune

"Kawaguchi...has a surprising, unerring ability to find lasting emotional resonance. Interwoven into what initially feels like a whimsical escape are existential conundrums of love and loss, family and freedom, life and death." The Christian Science Monitor

"By cleverly weaving fantastic strands into what turns out to be an entertaining tale....Kawaguchi builds suspense from scene to scene, carefully selecting his narrative clues." The Arts Fuse

"The story is gold. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is perfect for anyone who wants to feel connected right now." BookReporter

"Toshikazu lays out a system of time travel that is unconvoluted and beautifully simple... This charmingly magical novel is about discovering happiness despite the pasts that we desperately want to revisit." The Harvard Crimson

"This is a sweet, fable-like tale about a magical seat in a cafe where you can, if you wish, go back in time....An odd read, but also a charming one." The Sydney Morning Herald

"A story about human relationships, missed opportunities and the enduring power of love." The Gryphon

"A thought-provoking and at times tear-jerking realization about what we would say if we could go back in time." Palatinate

"It is full of soul, presented through clever world building and unfolding of its characters and relationships." Books and Bao

Toshikazu Kawaguchi (in Japanese: 川口 俊 和) was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1971. He formerly produced, directed and wrote for the theatrical group Sonic Snail. As a playwright, his works include COUPLE, Sunset Song, and Family Time. The novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold is adapted from a 1110 Productions play by Kawaguchi, which won the 10th Suginami Drama Festival grand prize.