Amor Perfecto has roasted and served coffee in Bogotá since 1997. Its founder, Luis Fernando Vélez, then ran a flower business, and on a trip to a flower fair in London in 1992 his friend Alejandro Rengifo showed him how to brew coffee in a French press. He brought French presses home for the customers of his small gift shop, Amor Perfeito. The coffee drew people in, a café opened inside the shop, and in time the café replaced it.

In 2003 Vélez competed at the World Barista Championship, the first Colombian to represent the country in an international coffee competition. He qualified as a barista trainer with the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe and began training baristas in Colombia. Amor Perfecto organised the country’s first national coffee championships in 2006 and helped bring the World Barista Championship to Bogotá in 2011, the first time it was held in a producing country, before handing the championships to the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros. In 2021 Diego Campos, an Amor Perfecto barista, became the first Colombian World Barista Champion. Its Academia del Café has trained baristas since 2000, with instructors certified by the Specialty Coffee Association.

The company roasts Colombian coffee in Colombia (“tostado en origen”) and has exported it since 2013. Coffees come through direct relationships with producers such as Astrid Medina and Elías Roa, and from national auctions and competitions, from Nariño to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. By its own account, it holds more medals than any other roaster from the AVPA’s international competition for coffees roasted at origin.

Its experience centres in Bogotá include a bar on Parque Santander near the Museo del Oro, a fourth-floor café in the Avenida Chile shopping centre, a coffee bar in the inner patio of Librería Lerner, cafés in Chapinero Alto, El Nogal and Parque 93, a counter in the Éxito Wow supermarket and a bar inside the Fundonal eye clinic that is open to the public. Outside the capital it serves espresso and filter coffee at El Cabrero, a historic coffee hacienda near Armenia in Quindío.

Locations

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  1. Amor Perfecto Parque SantanderCarrera 6 # 15-02, BogotáParque SantanderOpen in Google Maps
  2. Amor Perfecto Avenida ChileCalle 72 # 10-34, Centro Comercial Avenida Chile, fourth floor, BogotáChapineroOpen in Google Maps
  3. Amor Perfecto El NogalCalle 79 # 9-10, BogotáEl NogalOpen in Google Maps
  4. Amor Perfecto Parque 93Calle 93B # 11A-84, BogotáParque 93Open in Google Maps
  5. Amor Perfecto Librería LernerCarrera 11 # 93A-43, BogotáOpen in Google Maps
  6. Amor Perfecto Éxito Wow CountryCalle 134 # 9-51, BogotáOpen in Google Maps
  7. Amor Perfecto Clínica FundonalCalle 50 # 13-50, BogotáChapineroOpen in Google Maps
  8. Amor Perfecto Chapinero AltoCarrera 4 # 66-46, BogotáChapinero Alto

Elsewhere

  1. Amor Perfecto El CabreroVía El Edén, Vereda Murillo, km 9, Armenia, QuindíoEl Cabrero Hacienda Histórica Cafetera, ArmeniaOpen in Google Maps

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Amor Perfecto