Why and how local coffee bars in Italythose distinctively Italian social and cultural spaceshave been increasingly managed by Chinese baristas since the Great Recession of 2008 Italians regard espresso as a quintessentially Italian cultural productso much so that Italy has applied to add Italian espresso to UNESCOs official list of intangible heritages of humanityThe coffee bar is a cornerstone of Italian urban life, with city residents sipping espresso at more than 100,000 of these local businesses throughout the country. And yet, despite its nationalist bona fides, espresso in Italy is increasingly prepared by Chinese baristas in Chinese-managed coffee bars. In this book, Grazia Ting Deng explores the paradox ofChinese espressothe fact that this most distinctive Italian social and cultural tradition is being preserved by Chinese immigrants and their racially diverse clientele. Deng investigates the conditions, mechanisms, and implications of the rapid spread of Chinese-own