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NINE BARS BY CHRIS RYAN Latin America repeats at WBC, U.S. battles but falls short TAKING OVER THE TITLE: Guatemala's Raul Rodas, competing in his fourth WBC, finally broke through with the win, taking the crown from Alejandro Mendez (far right in photo at left). V IENNA—Alejandro Mendez clutched the micro- phone and smiled broadly as a packed-to-the-rafters crowd waited with bated breath. As is tradition, the reigning World Barista Champion was onstage to announce the new winner. El Salvador's Mendez had ticked off places six through three, and the two competitors remaining—Fabrizio Sencíon Ramírez of Mexico and Raul Rodas of Guatemala—hailed from producing countries. Mendez made history last year as the first produc- ing-country barista to win at WBC, and it was now clear another was set to follow in his footsteps. In honor of the moment, Mendez told the crowd he'd be announcing the winner in Spanish. And so it was in that language that Mendez anoint- ed the 2012 World Barista Champion: Guatemala's Raul Rodas. "It feels like home when we talk in Spanish," Rodas said following the announce- ment. "It's something we live every day, so it was a friendly voice." The friendly gestures continued moments later when Mendez emptied a cham- pagne bottle on the new world champion. "I'm really, really happy to keep the trophy close to El Salvador," Mendez said afterward. 50 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com "As Central American baristas, we are really close to farms, and we're getting more and more focused on getting information from there and using it to produce quality." RODAS' PATH TO THE TOP WORLD'S BEST WORLD BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP: 1. Raul Rodas, Guatemala 2. Fabrizio Sencíon Ramírez, Mexico 3. Colin Harmon, Ireland 4. Miki Suzuki, Japan 5. Stefanos Domatiotis, Greece 6. Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, United Kingdom WORLD BREWERS CUP: 1. Matt Perger, Australia 2. Andy Sprenger, United States 3. Christos Loukakis, Greece 4. Anthony Benda, Canada 5. James Bailey, United Kingdom 6. Robert Gruber, Austria This was the fourth WBC for Rodas, now 25, who almost tasted victory at the 2010 WBC in London when he was the runner-up to U.S. competitor Mike Phillips. Before that competition, Latin American repre- sentatives had never placed in the top three at the WBC. "When I was second in London, I think it just opened really big windows," Rodas said. "Not just coffee-wise, but it created a window of [baristas in producing countries] believing in themselves." Like Mendez last year, Rodas took advantage of his proximity to farms by having a hand in his coffee from seed to cup—and took the opportunity to experiment as well, ending up with what he described as a cross between a semi-washed and a pulp natural. The coffee, hailing from the farm Finca La Soledad in Guatemala's Acatenango region, was picked toward the end of harvest—day 100, to be exact. The cherries were then continued on page 52 REG BARBER REG BARBER