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PHOTO COURTESY OF ROUKIAT DELRUE AND RAUL RODAS I wanted to know what, if any, advice he had for the 2013 World Barista Champion. Of course, the type of advice depends on the champion; Pete Licata of the United States, who won the battle for the 2013 WBC crown has been competing for enough years that he's already a savvy decision maker and a true professional—very similar, in fact, to Raul when he won. Still, I was interested to learn that even with all of his travel and consulting experience, Raul continued to rely heavily on his business partner and close friend, Roukiat Delrue, to help him make sound assessments of the travel and training offers he was given. Roukiat—who is Belgian but has lived and worked with coffee in Guatemala for more than 10 years—owns Paradigma Coffee in Guatemala City together with Raul. And Roukiat—or "Rouki," as her friends call her—is not only a seasoned WBC head judge, but she is also the national bodies coordinator for World Coffee Events, which oversees the production of the WBC. With so much experience and so many contacts, you might think the 12 months traversing the globe as the world's coffee ambassador would be no big deal for Raul. But he learned a lot, and grew as a professional in countless ways. Sarah Allen: What are some of the most important things you have learned in the past year? 74 barista magazine Raul Rodas: The specialty market—or potential of it—in the world is huge. I have discovered there are different ways of doing things and different ways of approaching it, but every single country has a positive thing and growth potential for specialty coffee that is quite impressive. Historically tea-drinking countries such as Taiwan, Russia, or China are transitioning almost naturally into coffee drinkers. All these cultures are used to such high standards of tea that they would not dream of putting sugar in their tea. This already presents one less bad habit to break, as it just makes sense to them to drink their coffee black and enjoy it as it is. Additionally, they are used to brewing standards: They weigh their tea and know their water standards. This presents an easy and natural transition. During this past year I also got certified as a WBC sensory judge. I have learned a lot from judging about the importance of following protocols no matter which country you are in, or following one idea and being in the middle of the transition between being a barista, a judge, and a consumer. This helps a lot to understand the real potential of what you have to explain in order to stay real, and also show and explain to people why coffee can always be brewed better. The judging perspective has also made me even more aware that the point of being a barista is not just throwing crazy ideas out there because you can or because no one has done it before; it has