This Award-Winning Colombian Coffee Brand Started As A Bootleg Operation
Before 2003 it was nearly impossible for Colombians to taste their own high-quality coffee. Colombia is home to some of the best coffee on the planet, thanks to its high mountains close to the equator. However, Colombian law only allowed domestic companies to buy, roast, and market coffee beans known as pasilla, which weren't good enough to be exported. Shops and restaurants roasted them dark to hide any defects and added heaps of sugar to make the coffee palatable. Before the law changed, there was one spot making coffee using illegally acquired, high-quality beans from around Colombia: a small gift and flower shop in Bogotá called Amor Perfecto.
In 1992, Amor Perfecto owner Luis Fernando Vélez went to London to attend a flower exhibition. There he got his first taste of quality coffee. When he returned he started acquiring and selling first-rate from his shop. In 1997 he purchased a roaster and went all in on becoming a coffee shop using beans purchased from growers across Colombia who had hit their export limit.
Amor Perfecto today
Inspired by Amor Perfecto, the National Federation of Coffee Growers successfully lobbied to repeal the Pasilla y Ripio law in 2003. This paved the way for more specialty coffee shops such as Pergamino, Colo, Tropicalia, Campesino, and Tipica to open up and sell high-end, locally sourced coffees.
If you ever find yourself in Bogotá on a food lover's dream trip, you can find several Amor Perfecto locations throughout the city. At the flagship location in the trendy Chapinero neighborhood, you can find a coffee lab holding events, cuppings, and workshops. It even offers an academy covering roasting and brewing different styles of coffee.
In the decades since Amor Perfecto started selling high-quality Colombian coffee, it has excelled to the point where barista Diego Campos became the first Colombian barista to win the World Barista Championship in 2021. It was his third time at the competition, which pits baristas all over the world in an intense coffee-making competition. Each barista has 15 minutes to put on a show, making four espressos, four milk-based drinks, and four signature drinks. It truly adds another level to what it means to be a barista.