Sítio Capão
Floral and tea-like, with lifted lemon lime acidity. Elderflower, honeydew melon and milk chocolate.
Sítio Capão is a twelve-hectare coffee farm, sitting at the relatively high elevation of 1,300m above sea level and located just outside the small town of Piatã, in Bahia’s Chapada Diamantina region. Chapada Diamantina translates to ”Diamond Plateau” in Portuguese, and for 100 years this area was mined for the gemstones embedded in its cliffs. Today, the region is famous for its specialty coffee production. The farm is owned by third-generation producer Aneiuson Souza and wife Rosemeire, who live onsite with their three children. Aneiuson is young — he’s still in his 40s — but has already been working in coffee for nearly two decades and is part the next generation of coffee producers in the town of Piatã.
Sítio Capão was originally established some 70 years ago as a fruit and vegetable plantation by Aneiuson’s grandfather. This was well before modern coffee varieties and practices were introduced to Brazil, and the coffee industry was only just becoming established in the region. At the time coffee grown in Piatã was still being transported on donkey carts to be sold at local markets in nearby towns. When Aneuison’s dad took over operations, he planted the first coffee trees in an attempt to capitalise on the growing industry, though the family did not find much success and were unable to keep up with how quickly the local market’s demands were changing.
At just seventeen years of age, Aneiuson realised they needed to overhaul their approach to agriculture and coffee production to make a success out of Sítio Capão, and began his studies to become an agricultural technician at Bahia’s Federal Institute (IFBA). During this time, Aneiuson stayed connected to the farm by visiting it every six months. Every time he returned home, he brought back more of the knowledge he was gaining at IFBA, and he shared it with his parents to try to help them improve their farming practices.
Upon graduating, Aneiuson returned to the farm, with the intention of fully maximising the estate’s potential. He began to replant the farm with modern varieties like Catuaí, Catucai 2SL and Catucai 785—all chosen due to their high productivity and cup quality, resistance to pest and disease and, importantly, their suitability to Brazil’s climate. He also introduced shade trees to his estate, to block the wind and protect coffee trees from the sun’s full intensity. In 2009, he began to work as an agronomist at a large vegetable company near the town of Mucugê (close of Fazenda Progresso) where he continued to expand his knowledge of good agricultural practices.
Aneiuson continued to devote time to improving practices at the family estate, though. To further preserve the biodiversity of his property, Aneiuson began performing annual soil analyses on the property, and intercropped the estate with nutrient-rich crops like cauliflower and broccoli to nurture his soil. Aneiuson has also upgraded Capão’s infrastructure, by installing a generator on his wet mill to help mechanise the pulping of his coffee, building fermentation tanks and setting up a drying patio and greenhouse to improve the quality of his processing.
In 2014 electricity was finally installed at the property. As a very motivated and determined man, this was the final push Aneiuson needed to quit his job as an agriculturist and focus on Sítio Capão full-time. Since then, Aneiuson has continued his family’s legacy of supplying neighbouring towns with exceptional coffee: he has been recognised numerous times in the local “Best of Bahia” competition and roasts his crop for “Café Aroma da Chapada,” a renowned local roastery in Chapada Diamantina. In 2020, he ranked fifth place in a local competition organised by our good friend and Brazilian specialty coffee pioneer Silvio Leite, further encouraging him to focus solely on specialty production. Aneiuson is well on his way to achieving this, with around two-thirds of his total production comprising of specialty grade—a number that continues to grow every year!
When we asked Aneiuson what he’d like the to tell Australian community drinking his coffee, he told us, “I ask each Australian to enjoy a cup of coffee from Capão. This coffee arrived there, with a lot of love and dedication, from the residence of a young man with a lot of dreams about coffee, who dedicated his entire life to this moment. Each dose of coffee is brought to you by this dream, which today has a family involved. This dream will maintain the story with the new generation, which are my children. Together, we will be stronger.”
ABOUT PIATÃ
Piatã is a unique and distinct coffee-growing region. The coffees produced here tend to be very floral, sweet and complex, and quite different from those that we source elsewhere in Brazil. There are two main factors behind this: coffee grows at elevations of up to 1,400 meters above sea level, which is very high for Brazil; additionally, temperatures in Piatã range from about 2°C to 18°C in winter, some of the lowest in the country. Combined, the high elevation and cool climate are key in slowing down the maturation of the coffee cherries, leading to an increased concentration of sugars in the bean. The result is a cup profile that is bright, transparent, and distinctive. Piatã’s relative closeness to the Equator line ensures coffee trees can experience such drastic conditions without being affected by frost, unlike other, more traditional coffee-growing regions in the country.
Piatã’s terroir is unique in Brazil, and contributes greatly to its strong regional distinction. The soil is nutrient-rich and slightly humid, creating a healthy and diverse ecosystem that is home to some 1,600 individual plant species. While the highlands of the Chapada Diamantina are rugged and dry, the area surrounding Piatã is filled with streams, waterfalls and even swamps, providing water for irrigation and agricultural techniques.
The town was first internationally recognised for its high quality in 2009, when five of the top 10 spots in Brazil’s Cup of Excellence came from Piatã. The region’s dominance in the competition has continued every year since, particularly in 2016 when an astounding 19 of the 24 winning lots came from Piatã! These coffees are extremely limited as production here is relatively low, given the small scale of the farms in this part of Brazil. MCM has been sourcing coffee from this region since 2012, thanks to the support of longtime partner and coffee mentor Silvio Leite. Head here to learn more about beautiful Piatã, and here for more on Silvio and the incredible work he’s done in Brazil.
The region of Piatã is the traditional home of the Cariri and Maracá indigenous people, who were defeated during the Portuguese invasion of Brazil in the seventeenth century. While most of the remaining Cariri people were displaced to other regions within the state of Bahia, eventually becoming members of other indigenous communities, the Maracás have a nearby municipality located on their historical capital city named in their honour. The word “piatã” translates to “hard foot or fortress” in the indigenous Tupi language (which was spoken by most First Nations People along Brazil’s coast).
HOW THIS COFFEE WAS PROCESSED
Aneiuson takes great pride and care in the way that he harvests and processes his coffee, from the preparation of the land through to the final storage of parchment. During harvest, all cherries were picked by hand only when fully ripe, with most of the labour being provided by him, his family and a handful of neighbours and seasonal workers. During the harvest, the team transport the freshly selected cherries in baskets to be depulped twice a day at Sítio Capão’s small wet mill. By doing all of the wet processing onsite, Aneiuson retains full autonomy over how each coffee lot is treated, ensuring the highest quality is achieved and reducing overall operating costs.
After depulping, wet parchment with some mucilage still attached was sun-dried on patio for a week, followed by another week where it dried on patio during the day and in greenhouses overnight. Aneiuson and his team spread the coffee in layers of about four centimetres and raked about 20 times a day. Once the coffee reached its optimal moisture content, it was separated into numbered lots and dry milled at the nearby Fazenda Machado, which belongs to Mr. Agnon Arauj0, a friend of Aneiuson’s. It was then stored and rested at one of Fazenda Progresso‘s purpose-built warehouses, where it was prepared for export.
