Welcome friend! Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a popular translated Japanese stories collection. Ariel and I read the first book back in 2021. We quite enjoyed them and I was excited when my library hold for the second book, Tales from the Café, became available. Let’s take a look at the synopsis and dive into the review.
Tales from the Café
Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Geoffrey Trousselot (Translator)
Goodreads | Before the Coffee Gets Cold # 2
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café 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…
From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula’s time-travelling offer.
Among some faces that will be familiar to readers of Kawaguchi’s previous novel, we will be introduced to:
The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago
The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral
The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry
The old detective who never gave his wife that gift…
This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?
Content notes include depiction of grief, death, death of parent, suicidal thoughts, miscarriage, cancer.
Tales from the Café – Review
Time travel is one of my favorite ideas to explore in writing. Before the Coffee Gets Cold series is a literary fiction/magical realism style take on travelling in time to meet loved ones. A small quiet cafe in Tokyo is known for letting its customers travel over a cup of coffee.
The Family
The cafe has been around for as long as people can remember. To travel, The coffee has to be poured by the women of the Tokita family. Though the first book was more of a short stories collection since the perspective of the customer is key to its organization, this book felt very much like a novel. Intertwined in between the customer’s visits to the past and future, the stories also shed light on the life of the cafe owners. Over the course of four stories set in four seasons, Tales from the Cafe introduces some unforgettable characters and develops others more thoroughly from Before the Coffee gets Cold.
Nagare is the co-cowner of the cafe and I noticed this time how knowledgeable he is about coffee. The different coffee making techniques and equiments, the flavours and origins of coffee… I don’t know if I loved coffee as much in 2021 as I do now. Maybe that is why I took note of these habits this time.
Kazu is one of the waitresses who can pour the time travel inducing coffee to the customer. I remember her existing in the last book but nothing much else. This book really fleshed her out and I got an insight into her everyday life and struggles, the deep sorrow that she carries.
A young character in the book is Miki. She is Nagare’s daughter and only 6 years old at the beginning of the book. Her enthusiasm added a lot to the book.
The Stories
Keeping with the traditions of the first book, the coffee is poured by a particular waitress and the visit in time has to happen by sitting at a particular table, which is vacated by only once a day. There are other conditions that one has to abide by: You can go visit anyone as long as they have been to the cafe. You can’t get up from your seat while you are visiting. You have to finish your coffee before it gets cold. The stories are named after the relationship important to the travelers.
Story # 1: The Best Friend
This one is the story of a man travelling back in time to see his best friend. He has raised his friend’s daughter as his own but he has hidden her parental lineage from her. Now, she is getting married and he is ashamed for having taken so long. He comes to the cafe with a plan to meet his best friend who changed his life decades ago.
Story # 2: Mother and Son
This story centers around Yukiyo, a man in his forties who did not attend his mother’s funeral. His struggles of becoming a sculptor and the chances he took in life are elaborated upon with emotion. It is impossible not to feel for him. His visit back in time was to see his mom.
Story # 3: The Lovers
This is the only story in the book where someone travels into the future. It piqued my interest the most because the time in the cafe has not changed. The person appeared at the table without the owners pouring someone a cup. The Lovers explores a love story that could not be completed due to unfortunate circumstances and how we can find happiness in the good things that happen and find the strength to keep living inspite of the bad things.
Story # 4: The Married Couple
The cutest story of them all because of Miki, I got a glimpse of previous tales in this book as well as the first book. It was a powerful story about a man going back in time to meet his wife to give her a birthday gift. I enjoyed the role that Kazu and her mother had in this one.
On the Whole
While these are four distinct stories, I love how the characters aren’t always brand new. We are introduced to the old detective who never gave his wife that gift in Mother and Son. I enjoyed the chance of meeting the characters again and seeing how they would use time travel. These little Easter eggs added a lot to my reading experience. I will be picking up the next book.
Death, grief and bereavement is central to all stories. Many characters have lost someone and, in their unique ways, internalized that they cannot be happy without the person who is no longer alive. The realities of life are depicted beautifully in these stories as is the culture of Japan. I learned about the festival of Tanabata that takes place in autumn. “One popular Tanabata custom is to write one’s wishes on a piece of paper, and hang that piece of paper on a specially erected bamboo tree, in the hope that the wishes become true.” I loved how Miki added these written wishes to the cafe christmas tree. I hope to create a tradition like this one in my life!
Fun fact: Did you know that this book was originally written as a play? I learned this from a review by Bad Form. Thinking further about the writing style of the book, it has the feeling of acts and stages, the ding dong of the bell, the whistle of the water boiling, the descriptions of people doing things.
Thanks for joining me for this review! Let me know in the comments if you have read this series or plan to! Add Tales from the Café to your Goodreads shelf.
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