Sítio Capão
Creamy and sweet. Crisp pear, maple syrup and hazelnut butter, with milk chocolate on the finish.
Sítio Capão is a sixteen-hectare coffee farm, sitting at the relatively high elevation of 1,240 – 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 farmer Aneilson Souza and wife Rosemeire, who live onsite with their three children. Aneilson is young — he’s still in his 40s — but has already been working in coffee for nearly two decades and is part of 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 Aneilson’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. Ultimately, however, 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, Aneilson realised they needed to overhaul their approach to agriculture and coffee production to make a success out of Sítio Capão. With this in mind, he began his studies to become an agricultural technician at Bahia’s Federal Institute (IFBA). During this time, Aneilson 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. Being apart from his family was a challenge — and Aneilson still gets emotional when recounting the experience — but his time away from Piatã cemented his intentions of returning to live and farm in his hometown.
Upon graduating, Aneilson returned to Capão, with the intention of fully realising the estate’s potential. He started by replanting 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 to Fazenda Progresso) where he further expanded his knowledge of good agricultural practices.
To preserve the biodiversity of the family’s property, Aneilson began performing annual soil analyses at the farm, and intercropped the estate with nutrient-rich crops like cauliflower and broccoli to nurture the soil. As a trained agronomist, Aneilson has always kept a close eye on the health of his plantation — and feeds his trees specially prepared fertilisers (using a mix of organic and synthetic materials) that target any deficiencies he may have noticed. Aneilson has also upgraded Capão’s infrastructure: over the years, he has installed a generator on his wet mill to help mechanise the pulping of his coffee, built fermentation tanks, set up a drying patio and greenhouse to improve the quality of his processing, and established a reserve using water from the nearby Contas River for the farm’s drip irrigation system.
In 2014, electricity was finally installed at the property. As a motivated and determined man, this was the final push Aneilson needed to quit his job as an agriculturist and focus on Sítio Capão full-time. Since, Aneilson has continued his family’s legacy of supplying neighbouring towns with exceptional coffee: he began roasting his crop for “Café Aroma da Chapada,” a renowned local roastery in Chapada Diamantina, and has been recognised numerous times in the several Bahia-based quality-focused competitions (including ranking fifth place in a local competition organised by our good friend and Brazilian specialty coffee pioneer Silvio Leite, in 2020).
Today, Aneilson roasts his coffee onsite once a week on a Brazilian-made 15kg Ruralmac, which is then sold at a local market on weekends along with other produce like strawberries, broccoli and cauliflower. The enterprise has grown to become a co-roasting space for other coffee professionals and cafés in the region. In 2024, Aneilson installed solar panels at the property, which have helped reduce operational costs during the harvest.
When we asked Aneilson 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
Located at the foot of the Chapada Diamantina mountain range, Piatã is a unique growing region in Brazil’s Bahia state. The coffees produced here tend to be floral, sweet and complex, and noticeably distinct from those grown 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 high for the country; and temperatures range from about 2°C to 18°C in winter, some of the lowest in Brazil. 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 proximity to the Equator line ensures the region’s coffee trees can experience such drastic conditions without being affected by frost, unlike other, more traditional coffee-growing regions in the country.
Piatã’s exceptional natural characteristics also contribute greatly to the coffees’ profile. In the distant past, the whole of Chapada Diamantina was completely under water, slowly eroding over millions of years — leaving behind soil that is nutrient-rich and slightly soft. This soil, along with the above-average local humidity, is home to a healthy and diverse ecosystem that includes some 1,600 individual plant species. While the highlands of Chapada are rugged and dry, the area surrounding Piatã is filled with streams, waterfalls and even swamps that, in most years, provide plenty of water for irrigation and agriculture.
While coffee production is on the rise in Piatã, it is still very much a developing industry. Locally produced lots didn’t gain recognition for quality among Brazilian buyers until the 1990s. This recognition led to the establishing of the ASCAMP growers’ association in 1998, which was tasked with assisting growers who had land, but few resources. Over the next decade, cooperatives and other farmer groups were founded, playing a pivotal role in elevating the coffees grown and processed in the region. Piatã went on to be internationally recognised for its high quality in 2009, when five of the top 10 spots in Brazil’s Cup of Excellence came from this small corner of Bahia. 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, and again in 2022, when 10 local winners were recognised! MCM has been sourcing coffee from this region since 2012, thanks to the support of longtime partner and coffee mentor Silvio Leite. Head here for more on Silvio and the incredible work he’s done in Brazil.
Part of what makes the Piatã region so special is that production is extremely limited, given the scale of the local estates. Farm sizes tend to be relatively small when compared to other producing areas in Brazil, usually just ten hectares or less in size, and are not visible when driving through the outskirts of town (unlike somewhere like Cerrado de Minas in Minas Gerais, where large estates make up most of the landscape). Most growers process their own cherry on site, sticking to traditional methods with little focus on experimentation, with the goal of processing coffee well and ensuring the final cup is sweet and clean. As many producers rely on coffee as their main source of income, simplicity and repeatability are prioritised. Great attention to detail is placed on the post-harvest work, as the region’s cooler temperatures and high humidity pose risks to the drying parchment. To prevent any potential defects in the cup, many local producers have built greenhouses and raised beds, to add a layer of protection without minimising the necessary ventilation for coffee to dry evenly and at a steady rate.
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 joining other indigenous communities, the Maracás have a nearby municipality located at 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). Head here to learn more about beautiful Piatã.
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.
