Savannah Watson

Anyone who has been following my blog for a while may have seen me reference the book series Before the Coffee Gets Cold, specifically in my Quote of the Week posts. It probably goes without saying, but I deeply love these books, and after finishing the final book in the series, it only felt right that I post a review.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold was written by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, and the first in the series was published in Japan in 2015. It was published in the UK in 2019 and in the US in 2020.

The story takes place in Japan, where two cafes (located in different towns) have the power to send people to the past or future. There are set rules when visiting the past such as not being able to move from the seat that takes you back, not being able to change any events in the present, and the time limit – you have only until the coffee gets cold. Despite these rules, people still flock to the cafes for a chance to travel through time.

The Before the Coffee Gets Cold series deals heavily with topics of loss, regret, death, choices, and acceptance. These stories invite introspective thought as you read, and it’s easy to imagine ourselves in the characters’ shoes, considering how we might handle things if we were them and even seeing parallels to our own lives through the characters and their experiences (personal aside – one of the stories involved a dog, and all I could think of as I read was my own dog, Andie). These stories have no shortage of tragedies, but they are always counterbalanced with hope.

As I read, I was always left with the understanding that while the characters’ present day would not and did not change from their journeys through time, they themselves were changed. They came back to the present with weights off their shoulders, with new-found joys, and with the ability to accept things as they were (despite their losses). And while there is no such thing (as far as I know) as a time-traveling cafe in real life, the messages of not taking people, pets, or life for granted, of facing our losses and regrets, and of moving forward with hope become all the more poignant.

I cried while reading every single one of the books in this series – and I am not a crier – which goes to show how deeply moved I was by each of the books. While the subject matter can feel heavy at times, I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys moving, contemplative literature. I know this will be a series I revisit time and time again.

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