Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Get in the xigxag app
Already purchased

Click to open directly in the xigxag app.

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book. Pre-order Buy Now €{{ price }} Send as a gift

Listen to a sample

What to expect

The cosy, heartwarming first book in the multi-million copy bestselling series.

What would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time? Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold, translated from Japanese, explores this age-old question . . .


In a cosy back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

Prepare to meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the cafe’s time-travelling offer in order to:
- confront the man who left them
- receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by Alzheimer's
- see their sister one last time
- meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat. They cannot leave the cafe. And finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

‘This book broke my heart, took the pieces, and put them back together in a messy and beautiful way. . . ' - well.read.woman on Instagram

Continue the beautifully moving storytelling with Tales from the Cafe, Before Your Memory Fades, Before We Say Goodbye and Before We Forget Kindness.

**Before I knew I loved you, the sixth book in the series, is available to pre-order now!**

Critics Review

Heartwarming, whimsical . . . offering comfort at a time when the world seems off-kilter and chaotic
The New York Times

User Reviews

Book 4.6
Narration 4.9
4.0
5.0
talia 12/07/2025
4.0
5.0
Epicuria 24/06/2024
4.0
5.0
thalia 07/12/2023
5.0
5.0
Excellent narration. Interesting time travel stories. I actually read the book about a year ago but found it difficult to follow the characters (in the book). Naturally they all had Japanese names. I couldn't tell sometimes if it was a man or a woman. The narrator made it very clear who was talking to whom.
Rocketman 24/10/2023
5.0
5.0
Wow, just wow. Loved it.
johanna 10/10/2023
4.0
4.0
sc.willmott 12/06/2023
5.0
5.0
jasminehope 09/06/2023
5.0
5.0
rachieing 15/05/2023
5.0
5.0
Sam-G 31/03/2023

About xigxag

Experience the best audiobooks with xigxag, an innovative and user-friendly audiobook platform designed for seamless discovery, purchase, and enjoyment of your favorite titles. Our flexible pricing model offers bestselling audiobooks for less, providing affordable prices and the best audiobook deals without requiring a subscription. Perfect for gifting, xigxag also features convenient audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.

 

Beyond the listening experience, xigxag stands as an exciting alternative to big tech, embodying a strong commitment to sustainability and ethical practices. As the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service, we ensure a guilt-free listening experience from a leader in audiobook innovation.

 

Effortlessly search audiobooks, access honest audiobook reviews that evaluate both the content and narration, and easily discover hidden gems. Whether you prefer to download or stream top audiobook titles, xigxag provides the best possible listening experience anytime, anywhere, on the UK’s best independent audiobook app. Discover the future of audiobooks today.