July 10th, 2025 by Shandra Conley for Dreamland Books and Yarn

In a world where coffee meets time travel, would you choose to take the first sip? 

“Before the Coffee Gets Cold” is an astonishing story of a basement cafe that holds a known legend of time travel within its seemingly normal four walls. 

Toshikazu Kawaguchi has crafted a world where the characters introduced all serve a purpose in piecing together a deep understanding of how this cafe brings the past, present, and future together. 

If your interest has not yet been piqued, I implore you to take a moment to appreciate Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s cover art for each of his books. As someone who enjoys a good theme, Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s art and titling style have scratched an itch that furthered my interest in this great light read. At only 272 pages, this book is capable of holding the attention of its readers for an easy binge. 

As we begin this novel, we are presented with a contents page listing various sections, suggesting that the setup of this novel may consist of separate short stories that share only the setting in common. However, after a quick read of the back inside sleeve, it is revealed that this novel was originally a play. Therefore, these sections of the book were each acts of the play. 

Being from a stage performance background, my interest in this novel was exponentially heightened. Expanding a play into a novel is no simple task, and I believe the author did a fantastic job developing a descriptive novel feel without eliminating the essence of a stage performance. 

“Before the Coffee Gets Cold” was successful at placing me, the reader, within the mindset of its characters who are contemplating whether time travel is really worth it. It left me wondering if I, too, would drink the coffee before it gets cold.