Regret
As a novel about people traveling in time to relive moments from their past, Before the Coffee Gets Cold explores the major theme of regret. Kawaguchi first touches on the theme with Fumiko, who regrets the direction her last conversation with her boyfriend took. Feeling deflated, she seeks to travel back one week to have a second chance at convincing him to stay. Regret also plays a significant role in Hirai's storyline: While Hirai normally goes to great lengths to avoid her sister, the tragedy of Kumi's death fills Hirai with regret for not having been kinder and more supportive. Similarly, Kei travels forward in time to meet her as-yet-unborn child and make sure that her decision to go through with the life-threatening pregnancy is the right one. In each person's case, time travel enables them not to prevent the things they regret, but to develop a new perspective that helps them overcome their sense of loss.
Desperation
Desperation—a state of despair that contributes to extreme or rash behavior—is another major theme in Before the Coffee Gets Cold. The theme first arises when Kawaguchi depicts Fumiko's impatience to travel back one week to her conversation with Goro. When Kazu tells Fumiko she must wait for the ghost to vacate the one seat in which time travel is possible, Fumiko grabs the ghost's arm, prompting the ghost to punish her rash behavior by disabling her with a paralyzing curse. Desperation also arises in Kei's storyline. Before she goes for the remainder of her pregnancy into the hospital, which she suspects she won't leave alive, Kei is desperate to have a glimpse into the future. Nagare warns against the rash decision because he knows it risks plunging Kei into an even deeper state of despair if she discovers the child doesn't live. But while desperation may drive characters in the book to make impulsive decisions, ultimately Kawaguchi shows that intuition steers the characters toward enlightening discoveries.
Grief
Grief is another dominant theme in the novel. Defined as deep sorrow caused by someone's death or a great loss, grief is a burden several characters must shoulder. For Kohtake, her husband's early-onset Alzheimer's disease leads him to no longer recognize her as his wife. Mourning the loss of their relationship as husband and wife, she resigns herself to a new paradigm in which she treats him as a nurse would a patient. However, in fooling herself into believing she has entered the acceptance stage of grief, Kohtake actually denies herself the opportunity properly to grieve what she has lost. Grief is also central to Hirai's narrative in part III. Having lost her sister in a road accident, Hirai grieves not only the loss of her sister's life but the loss of an opportunity to fulfill her sister's wish for them to run their family inn alongside each other. But after accepting there is nothing she can do to prevent Kumi's death, Hirai works through her grief by repairing her relationship with their parents—a gesture Kumi would have appreciated.
Hope
Hope is another major theme that Kawaguchi explores in Before the Coffee Gets Cold. As much as he depicts his characters as regretful, desperate, and grieving, the author shows how hope motivates them to reexamine past events or risk disappointment by looking into the future. For Fumiko, hope of being with Goro again counteracts the despair she feels after their breakup. For Kohtake, the hope that Fusagi will recognize her at least some of the time motivates her to continue introducing herself as his wife. For Hirai, the hope of repairing her relationship with her parents, as Kumi would have wanted, helps her overcome the difficulty of running the inn. For Kei, the hope that she will give the gift of life to Miki gives her the strength needed to see her pregnancy to the end. While time travel doesn't change the material circumstances of each character's present, it fills their hearts with the hope they need to overcome the difficulties they face.
Sacrifice
Sacrifice—the act of giving up something important for the sake of others or for a higher purpose—is a crucial theme in Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Kawaguchi introduces the theme in Fumiko's storyline when she redoes her conversation with Goro and realizes that, if she really loves him, she will have to be patient and let him pursue his dream job for three years. Hirai learns she must sacrifice her sense of stubborn pride and repair things with her parents in order to fulfill her promise to Kumi. Most significantly, Kei sacrifices her own life in order to give birth to Miki, knowing all the while that childbirth will almost certainly kill her. In each case, these characters learn the value of giving up something personal for the benefit of other people.
Uncertainty
Uncertainty is another important theme in the novel. The theme first arises when Fumiko has a second shot at her last conversation with Goro and learns that he wants her to wait three years for him to pursue his dream job in America. Rather than give her a definite answer to the question of whether they will be together again, Goro leaves Fumiko in a prolonged state of uncertainty that prompts her to question Kazu about the possibility of traveling into the future. Uncertainty also plagues Kohtake, whose husband's sporadic memory means she never knows whether he will accept her as his wife on any given day. In the book's fourth section, uncertainty about her pregnancy motivates Kei to travel into the future and to seek clarity about whether she should continue to carry the child. By going forward in time, Kei finds the reassurance and strength she needs to keep going.
Revelation
Revelation—the learning of something previously unknown—is another crucial theme in Before the Coffee Gets Cold. For Fumiko, she never expects the revelation that Goro has always seen himself as inferior to her and suspected she would leave him for a more handsome man. Kohtake's revelation comes when Fusagi admits he knows he will lose his memory and requests that she not treat him as a nurse would a patient. For Hirai, it is a revelation to learn that Kumi doesn't resent her; in fact, Kumi loves Hirai so much that she dreams of running their family inn as a team. Kei's revelation comes when she sees her future daughter use Kei's favorite peace sign gesture—a symbol of Kei's spirit living on in Miki. In each of the four storylines, Kawaguchi depicts characters moving forward or back in time to discover something; however, what is revealed is beyond what they could have predicted.
