Before the coffee gets cold is a story about a cafe where, urban legend says, you can travel back in time. But there is a catch. In fact, there are several conditions that need to be followed for this time travel to work. The gist of it is that a person can travel through time with the help of a coffee but only for so long as the coffee stays hot. Once it starts to cool down the person is supposed to drink it completely to come back to the present or risk grave consequences.
Despite there being the possibility of time travel, the focus of the stories is more on the patrons of the coffee house as well as the people who are desperate enough to want to try. While this book is written / translated in very easy-to-read language, the stories are a little less easy to digest. These are not happy stories. The people who want to travel back all have their reasons for doing so, from wanting closure, to seeing someone for the last time, to seeing what could have been had they said the right thing at a certain time, etc.
There are no paradoxes created, no multiverses, nothing explained about this entirely magical situation. The time traveller gets to visit a certain time, and nothing they say or do in the past will alter the present. The book does little in explaining why or how this is even possible. The reader is just supposed to accept that this is how things work and thats that.
While this is a unique method of time travel, as mentioned before there is no reason how or why this particular cafe or the coffee can help some travel through time. It’s a nice book to read despite the slightly triggering content. Don’t read it for the time travel aspect of it though, that’s clearly never been the focus of the book. Read to experience the stories of the patrons, their love, grief, pain, and longing. There are two more books of a similar vein which I will pick up eventually. Maybe the author sheds a little more light on this curious coffee shop there.
Rating: 4/5
Links:
Liminal Ramblings 