In the café, customers have the opportunity to travel back to a time of their choosing, as long as they follow a long list of rules. In a narrow back alley in Tokyo lies a café called Funiculi Funicula. It tells of a café in Tokyo that allows its customers to travel back in time, as long as they return before their coffee gets cold.

If you are, however, looking for something with a little bit of magic something gentle, warm and easy, this book delivers.2015 Japanese novel by Toshikazu Kawaguchiīefore the Coffee Gets Cold ( コーヒーが冷めないうちに, Kohi ga Samenai Uchi ni ) is a 2015 novel by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. In that case, it is unsurprising that the 4 customers who go back in time each have a deeply sad, heart-warming and/or inspirational personal story to tell.įor anyone turned off by sentimentality, you may find too much of it in this novel. To me, this meant that anyone prepared to face the risks involved must have to have an important, driving need to return to the past. And they must understand that their experience of time-travel won’t come without risk. When a customer travels back in time, they cannot change the past, no matter what they do. It is written in a similar style to a play and the coffee shop is the only location we ever find ourselves in, as the characters enter and exit with an audible 'clang dong' of the door. It almost read as a series of short stories, each with its own plot connected by the overall concept. One of the rules is that customers who decide to do this must return to the present before their coffee gets cold. If they want to, and if they will agree to follow a set of very clearly defined rules, customers can choose to experience time travel. The cafe has brewed and served its coffee for over 100 years and its customers come and go.īut there is something very different about this little coffee shop. The book focuses on a coffee shop in Tokyo.

The novel was also a refreshing break from the 'edge of your seat' crime novels I had read one after the other before picking this up. This book is not in that genre!Ī friend recommended Before The Coffee Gets Cold, and from the moment I started it, it became a little oasis of calm amongst the difficulties, stress and uncertainty which arrived with the pandemic. I'd started reading more fiction to pass the time and mostly found myself turning to the crime genre. What goes better with your favourite cup of coffee, than a great book? Our marketing-lady-behind-the-scenes Liz shares a quick review for a coffee-related good read: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi:īefore The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi became a lovely escape for me towards the end of the first national lockdown in 2020.

Before the coffee gets cold review