Sweet Return and Bitter Memories: Rethinking Coffee Culture and Overseas Return Migration from Europe to Rural Fujian, China

This ethnography examines coffee habits among return migrants in their place of origin in a rural county in Fujian. Many migrants occupy low-skill jobs in the catering and textile industry in Italy, Austria, and Hungary. I argue that coffee does not represent an identification with cosmopolitanism, but rather evokes memories of hardships these migrants are subject to during their overseas stay. The deeper implication of this study lies in the rethinking of overseas return migration. Through rethinking the practice and embedded memories of coffee culture, I assess the meaning of overseas migration for rural return migrants. Their return is happening at a time when overseas emigration is not the only road to economic advancement, as it was two decades ago when the localized phenomenon of overseas emigration was at its peak.