Photo by Brent Fortune.

In our continuing—relentless, really—pre-World Barista Championship media blitz coverage, twitchy.org is proud to bring Raul Rodas, Barista Champion of Guatemala, onto the velvet interview couch for a wee chat…

What’s coffee culture like in Guatemala?
Its very exciting because you have the job of transmiting all the knowledge about coffee industry and I think we have to grow more and more eveytime specially on baristas!!!!!

Where is it that you work?
I work at &cafe.

Do you feel like there’s a strong relationship between cafe culture in Guatemala and the coffees your nation produces?
I think not everybody, but its getting better and better that relationship with new things and the coffee industry like coffeeshops and roasteries is getting bigger.

What are some of your favorite Guatemalan coffees from the past year? What about coffees from other regions?
Mmm its hard but could be Los Arroyos from Huehuetenango and La Maravilla.

Have you been to Atlanta before? That part of the country is well known for its fried chicken, but has no Pollo Campero outlet that I know of.
I have been to the US but not to Atlanta im excited!!!!

Why do you compete?
To have the best 15 minutes of my life and to express in that time my feelings about the coffee.

What would you change about barista competitions if you could?
To have more exchanges of baristas, to have more knowledge and coffee grown and to visit more places and learn a lot.

What would you like to see change in coffee culture in the larger picture? Either locally or globally.
I think maybe have a barista exchange where people can visit the farms and baristas can learn diferent things to grow more of the culture.

Does your family understand coffee and your role in it?
Yes, they are always supportive and love coffee a lot. They are going to be in Atlanta too so it’s going to be fun.

You get to work in the morning…or perhaps the afternoon. What drink do you make for yourself?
Well I work on coffee since the morning and in the afternoon and the first thing in the morning to me its an espresso or a macchiato, and then some yourgout and fruit and a French press is good, and afternoon too an espresso is really good.

For my pre-WBC interviews this year, I’m going to have a rolling question at the end where I ask one competitor to ask a question to another, on any topic you like. You have received a question from Mike Phillips, the current United States Barista Champion. He asks:
“Being from a producing country, do you feel it is an advantage because you have such close first hand access to the country’s coffee or do you feel at a disadvantage because it is more difficult for you to have the option of using coffees from another origin?”
I think is an advantage because you can reach a lot of things and info and visit the farms and the hard thing is to make a blend with the same origin, so I think both but I think is posible so its never enough effort to try different things.

I think that will be it, ok I will see you in Atlanta.

Thanks, Raul!