Raúl Rodas World Barista Champion 2012!
After long three days of competitions, Raúl Rodas from Guatemala has become the new World Barista Champion for 2012.
With a very interesting concept, he delighted the judges with what he calls an experiment, using natural processed coffee from Finca La Soledad in the Acatenango Region. He left the coffee in dry fermentation for 14 hours and then dried for 15 days.
Raúl presented a signature drink that explores the elements of the coffee process, using an infusion of fresh "cascara"–the coffee cherry outer shell–, an infusion of green coffee covered in mucilage, a partially roasted coffee he calls "yellow bean" and a "first crack" coffee brewed using a Clever Dripper.
He gave instructions to the judges to taste the four elements independently, then asked two of them to add some of the cascara and mucilage infusions to the espresso he made with 17 grams of his semi-washed coffee. The other judges were asked to add cascara and then the first crack brew. After tasting the mix the judged had to swap the drinks with one another so everybody could taste them both. In an interview after his presentation he explained this was done to replicate a very natural dynamic that takes place naturally when people share food or drinks with friends or family.
This is the fourth time he makes it to the World Barista Championship, climbing his way up to the first place with lots of hard work and proven professionalism.
In Guatemala, lots of people were following the competition and celebrated his success. Social networks such as Twitter had Raúl after the competition as a trending topic.
Our very sincere compliments to Raúl, setting an example of national pride for Guatemala.
You can watch his finals performance on Livestream. (http://new.livestream.com/worldcoffee/WBC2012finals/videos/1495586)
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