# Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Hardback, 224 pages

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s translated novel set in a Tokyo café where customers can travel back in time, subject to strict conditions. This English-language hardback presents four linked stories about people hoping to revisit someone from their past.

- [Original product page](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/product/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [View offer](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- Market: UK
- Language: en-GB
- Currency: GBP
- Category: Books, Music & Hobbies > Books, Music & Movies > Books & Comics
- Price: 10.31 GBP
- Previous price: 14.99 GBP
- Discount: 31%
- Price checked: 2026-11-12T17:37:29.062Z
- Rating: 4 / 5
- Reviews: 38244

Prices and deal status are the latest recorded data, not a guarantee of availability. Confirm the price and availability with the store.

## At a glance

- Set in a Tokyo café that has served coffee for more than a century and offers a chance to travel back in time.
- Four visitors seek different meetings, including with an ex-partner, a husband, a sister and a daughter.
- The time-travel premise has firm limits: visitors must use a particular seat, stay in the café and return before their coffee gets cold.

## Pros

- Four interconnected stories give the time-travel premise several personal and emotional angles.
- The supplied customer feedback describes the stories as warm, heartfelt and thought-provoking.

## Specifications

### Book details
- Format: hardback
- Publisher: Picador
- Publication date: 3 Oct. 2023
- Edition: Main Market
- Language: English
- Print length: 224 pages
- Reading age: 18 years and up
- ISBN-10: 1035032287
- ISBN-13: 978-1035032280
### Dimensions and installation
- Dimensions: 13.8 x 2.6 x 20.6 cm
- Weight listed: 1.05 kg

## Before you buy

- The time-travel journeys are constrained by the café’s rules. Visitors must sit in a particular seat, remain in the café and return before the coffee gets cold.

## A good fit for

- Readers who enjoy linked stories with an emotional, thought-provoking premise.
- Those interested in translated Japanese fiction and a café-centred story about revisiting the past.

## Less suited to

- Readers who want an unconstrained time-travel adventure or a consistently uniform writing style, as customer reactions to the prose, readability and character development are mixed.

## Customer feedback

Customer feedback highlights the distinctive premise and four linked, warm-hearted narratives, with readers also describing the story as reflective. Reactions to the writing style, ease of reading and character development are mixed, so the book’s appeal may depend on whether its episodic storytelling and prose suit your taste. The aggregate ratings lean positive overall but include a meaningful middle-rated share, which does not explain individual readers’ reasons.
- Positive themes: Customers praise the distinctive storyline and interconnected narratives.
- Positive themes: Feedback describes the stories as heartfelt and thought-provoking.
- Mixed feedback: Readers disagree about the writing style and readability.
- Mixed feedback: Character development is received differently, with some finding characters relatable and others finding them hard to keep track of.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is Before the Coffee Gets Cold about?
Four visitors to a Tokyo café use its time-travel offer to seek meetings with people from their past. Each journey follows strict rules, including returning before the coffee gets cold.
### Is this the first book in the series?
The listing describes it as the first book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series.
### What format and language is listed?
The description presents a hardback edition. The product details list English as the language and 224 pages.
### What do customers say about the writing?
Customer feedback highlights the linked stories and their warm, reflective tone, while reactions to the writing style, readability and character development are mixed.

## Alternative options

- [Cherry: It starts as a love song. It ends with murder](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [The Nightingale : The Multimillion Copy Bestseller from the author of The Women](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [The Dutch House: From the author of Tom Lake and Whistler \(Bloomsbury Publishing\)](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [The Wedding People: The hilarious and moving million-copy bestseller](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [The Marble Café series 2 Books Set by Michiko Aoyama \(Hot Chocolate on Thursday, Matcha on Monday\)](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [The Women: The Bestselling, Unforgettable Novel That Has Captured Millions of Hearts](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [They Called Me Wyatt](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [Before I Knew I Loved You: The heartwarming new novel in the cosy Japanese multi-million selling series \(Before the Coffee Gets Cold, 6\)](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [Klara and the Sun: The Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [Before Your Memory Fades: The Japanese TikTok favourite that will break your heart: 3 \(Before the Coffee Gets Cold, 3\)](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [The Samurai Detectives: Volume 3: The Man in the Mist - The gripping new novel in the bestselling series set in old Japan](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [The Samurai Detectives: Volume 2: The Killer on the Streets](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)

## Add-ons

- [Tales from the Cafe: The cosy, heartfelt sequel to Before the Coffee Gets Cold](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)
- [Before We Forget Kindness: The most emotional book yet in the sensational Tokyo cafe series: 5 \(Before the Coffee Gets Cold, 5\)](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/visit/before-the-coffee-gets-cold-hardback)

## Images

![Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Hardback, 224 pages — 1](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/i/uUbV-Jw_SpfFdLorZORerotzPko9vmTjmmAAOd7cYjaJuk7EQaQFMxL-vtM799jdovbVF-aXnQ6Do73RzDzutrYJ9L45sMW6UlXR8rxt34Sun4md5BXu.jpg)

![Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Hardback, 224 pages — 2](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/i/eRERkljLl40BCNgSNmmGDV2V3NAim-fs5vhfcHj4eDN2MORalDWjkV1yFcxSmEiL7MjVYzN-kV6QAhqLIlIEWPnktf_JNjJ4YS6JXt_3Lzp9hiZBKBc4.jpg)

![Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Hardback, 224 pages — 3](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/i/BtKuYRfqGcPjAV0k5PlgtWqsQ9-vzRbpMUStVaHPzCbw9gzqA99Wpw84l6bQ0HKtv3f73y8dCzzIHSLHG30gryZXcaJB2BvRF95h0xKVmAkQwMieVkQj.jpg)

![Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Hardback, 224 pages — 4](https://bargainpostbox.co.uk/i/e30huW-C0YoFogR3ZqfOI8BdybVSJlgfkG0oKQQWiME8Qey6orTajCTX6i6Vi6sOF6-utolLPVu1d02ZZhfZ2ZBIHNoXYBOL1F_CjzaxTLmrIE4tpO4_.jpg)