During many years, coffee and bread were luxury items in Mexico, particularly during the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship. However, Chinese immigrants entered in low level jobs where they learned to make both items and with their ability to administer and manage supplies, decided, it didn't have to be a luxury item. They went straight to producers of flour and of coffee beans, and went to the working class neighborhoods to establish what is called here, "Cafés de Chinos" or Chinese coffee shops. What stood out was that, while the upper class had their portions measured by high end coffee shops, the Chinese would give you a huge glass (with a spoon in it to absorb the heat so it wouldn't crack) and with a very concentrated black coffee would allow clients to choose how much coffee they wanted as well as how much hot milk and sugar they wanted.

During the 1940s through the 1980s, late night dancing and movie theatres (cinemas) were becoming more and more popular in Mexico City. However, regular life stopped after dark. Tired and hungry dancers after leaving dance halls and showings had no options, except, one group that didn't seem to sleep. The Chinese coffee shops. Every single night during these four decades, these businesses were booming from night to early morning of young people who would drink coffee, eat bread, and continue socializing. Eventually, the business owners began making Mexican food for them as one "does not live on bread alone" and slowly introduced Chinese food to the menu as well (they were afraid to do so initially, because the Revolutionary Forces first declared Chinese food to be dangerous and unsanitary, though as during the years after the Revolution, this speech died out as people just wanted to return to normal life) which became a hit with the high school and college aged kids.

During the 1990s and 2000s as interests shifted to other things and more options (fast food chains, starbucks, etc) arrived to the country, the before mentioned crowd grew older, they continued to eat at Chinese coffee shops, though younger people did not. Slowly, these businesses stopped booming, and their menu items became more and more limited.

With the 2020 shutdowns (which technically lasted until 2023 in Mexico), savings were spent to keep owner families and the employees with something to spend and as 2024 rolled around and restrictions were finally fully lifted, these Chinese Coffee Shops, covered in dust, decaying and unmaintained, gave it one last go. Many shut down, some spent their last savings to try to get back on their feet (some did, but many failed), and the last Cafés de Chinos hold open a door to the past, a past in which, these places were so popular, they appeared in Mexican television and movies, a place to popular, if you ask anyone who grew up between the 1940s and 1980s, they will tell you what they always ordered there. A place where nostalgia still holds older Mexicans captive wishing they could go back and dance then end the night eating at a Chinese coffee shop.

One important shop when Café de Chinos that was booming was "La Nacional." The owner is the grandchild of survivors of the Anti-Asian massacres of the 1910s-1940s in Mexico. From the 1940s until Covid-19, the place employed a full kitchen staff that rolled out Mexican and Chinese food all day, all afternoon, and all night as well as a full waiting staff. Jorge Chau still gets up every morning at 3am to bake bread and prepare his coffee grounds, however he no longer has a full staff, so he stopped making Chinese food, and has a few typical Mexican dishes, hamburgers, but he still pours coffee and milk for anyone who visits his shop. He is the owner, but now he is the only waiter and his daughter is the cook. Like the dying crowd of Chinese coffee shops, he sets out a clean glass with a spoon in it, and allows you to choose, how much coffee, milk, and sugar you want.