Bahia is one of the largest states of Brazil, located in the east, along the Atlantic coast. Once a monarchial stronghold dominated by slave-centric agriculture and ranching, Bahia is now a domestic manufacturing center and the focal point of Brazil’s re-entry into the fine cacao market. The region was once the largest cacao producer in the country, so reputed that a portion of southern Bahia was nicknamed “Cacao Coast.” Unfortunately, bioterrorism in the 1980’s devastated the country’s crop over the course of just a decade. In the early 2010’s, a number of family farms took it upon themselves to revitalize the local fine flavor cacao industry, which continues to grow annually.

Fazenda Sempre Firme, also known as Vale Potumujú, is located in Arataca municipality in Bahia's Mata Atlantica rainforest. This 500-hectare historic cacao estate has been revived with careful attention and sustainable agroforestry after the devastation of witch's broom fungus in the 1980s-90s. Owners Tuta and Juliana Aquino, descendants of founding cacao families dating to the 1890s, are growers, processors, exporters, and chocolate makers of Baianí Chocolate.