Before the Coffee gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Before the Coffee gets Cold is a thought experiment about human nature, missed chances, regret and love. It taps into a desire most of us have likely experienced at some or the other point—the wish to travel back in time and do things differently.

Kawaguchi introduces us to a small, quaint café with three clocks, each showing a different time. Frequented by eccentric regulars, we’re told that the café keeps unusually cool even in Tokyo’s humid summer. What sets it apart from every other café in the city is one table. Sitting at this table lets one travel to another point in time. 

There are, however, some rules to this time travel. One, that when travelling through time, you can only meet someone who has visited the café in the past. Also, you cannot leave your chair and hence, the café while you’re in the alternate timeline. The most important tenet is that regardless of what you do or say during your time-hopping trip, the present you return to, will remain unchanged. This is bound to stump anyone interested in even the rudimentary physics of time travel.

However, Kawaguchi makes it clear that his time travel trope leans more towards magic realism rather than quantum mechanics and as such, calls for a certain suspension of disbelief. Another fundamental rule is that you absolutely must return to the present before... you guessed it... the coffee gets cold. ​

The strongest element of Before the Coffee gets Cold is its premise. It makes you relate it to your own life as you read the blurb on the back cover.

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

In terms of style, Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s writing reveals his roots in theatre. Before the Coffee gets Cold reads very much like a play with its single location, limited characters and simple storyline. The book is divided into four chapters each focussed on a single storyline – the lovers, husband and wife, the sisters, and mother and child. Performing them as four acts of a play would be easy work.

Focussed on formality and the facial expressions of its characters, Before the Coffee gets Cold is a slim book with a relaxed pace. On the downside, it’s a quite low on action and engaging dialogue. Kawaguchi’s descriptions are repetitive and the narrative feels rather predictable after the first two stories. None of the characters are even mildly memorable.

Additionally, the pre-condition of the present not being impacted by any action taking place during time travel reduces the stakes for the characters because the consequences of their actions are limited. Such low stakes and characters with little depth are hardly a recipe for a page-turner.

Another aspect that is hard to ignore if and when it does strike you is that somehow, only female characters end up travelling back in time to make amends. It makes one wonder if this is just a coincidence or the sort of patriarchal mindset rooted in the ubiquitousness of women’s emotional labour which is mostly, taken for granted or occasionally applauded, mostly to encourage its continuance. Don’t believe me? Read the book and see what constitutes a ‘win’ for the female time-travellers and what it requires of them.

Before the Coffee gets Cold probably set off to explore the inscrutable complexity of human relationships and how we spend so much time ruminating over whether we made the right decision, said the right thing or missed an opportunity to say one’s piece. As the incomparable Khalil Gibran put it,

"Between what is said and not meant, and what is meant and not said, most of love is lost."

Sadly, Before the Coffee gets Cold misses the mark. Instead of exploring the nature of regret and the weight of missed moments, this book loses its way and ends up at a café serving nothing weightier than Bookstagram vibes and trite truisms.