Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a heartwarming and thought-provoking Japanese novel by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It revolves around a small café in Tokyo that has a unique feature: it allows people to travel back in time—but only for a short period before their coffee gets cold. The story is divided into four different tales, each focusing on a person who visits the café with the hope of changing something in their past.

The rules of time travel are strict—people can only interact with the past in the café, and they must return before their coffee cools down. These conditions create a sense of urgency, and the novel explores themes of regret, relationships, love, and the passage of time. The characters’ emotional journeys delve into their desires to reconnect with loved ones or find closure in their lives.

The novel balances magical realism with deeply human experiences, offering both hope and melancholy as the characters confront their pasts and attempt to reconcile their present selves. It’s a tender reflection on how small moments can shape our lives and the power of embracing what we can change and what we cannot.