OUR STORY

We didn't set out to build a food brand.

There are moments that quietly change the way you look at the world. For us, one of those moments began with Beforest.

Beforest began with a simple question: what if we could create landscapes where people, food and nature could thrive together?

In 2019, that question led to Poomaale in Coorg - the first Wilderness Collective. The coffee estate had been largely unattended for 7-8 years. Its coffee trees, already 30-40 years old, were growing with very little human intervention, while parts of the estate had slowly begun returning to forest.

Walking through an old coffee estate that had been left largely untouched for years, we expected to find neglect. Instead, we found resilience. Coffee plants were still finding their way through the forest. Streams continued to flow. Birds, insects and wildlife had slowly reclaimed the land.

It reminded us of something we had almost forgotten.

Nature doesn't stop trying. Sometimes, it simply waits for us to stop getting in its way.

That experience stayed with us - not because it gave us coffee, but because it changed the questions we started asking.

What if farming didn't have to compete with forests? What if regenerating a landscape could become the starting point for growing food? What if the quality of an ingredient was simply a reflection of the health of the ecosystem that produced it?

Those questions became Bewild.

Today, Bewild brings together produce from Beforest's regenerative collectives across India, from the Western Ghats and the Deccan Plateau to the Malwa Plateau, where every landscape teaches us something different.

In Coorg, we bring coffee, cardamom and honey from forest-integrated landscapes. From the Hyderabad Collective, we bring rice varieties, rosella and spices such as mustard, turmeric and chilli. From Bhopal, we bring wheat varieties including Sharbati and Kapli.

Each collective contributes another chapter to our understanding of what food can become when it grows with the landscape instead of against it.

Before a crop reaches harvest, there is a landscape to care for - soil to regenerate, water to protect, biodiversity to make space for and knowledge to build. The produce is what these landscapes give back.

Our ingredients now find their way into homes, cafés, restaurants and stores across India. As our collective network grows, so does the range of landscapes and produce we can share - while staying rooted in the same philosophy: the soil comes first, the produce follows.

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HOW WE THINK ABOUT IMPACT

The success of a landscape cannot be measured by yield alone. A truly healthy landscape gives back in more ways than one.

That is why our work is guided by what we call the Four Returns - a way of understanding whether the land, the people and the future are all moving in the right direction. These principles guide how the collectives are designed and developed.

RETURN TO NATURE

More life in the landscape. We track soil biology, biodiversity and water systems to understand whether the land is becoming healthier. At Poomaale, fungal biomass has increased 17x, with 60+ bird species, 125 butterfly species and 60+ fungi recorded. Coffee yields have also increased from 2 to 6 bags per acre without chemical inputs.

RETURN TO PEOPLE

Better livelihoods connected to healthy landscapes. Our collectives bring together growers, ecologists, researchers, local communities, food experts and knowledge keepers. The aim is to create livelihoods while preserving the knowledge and relationships that help each landscape thrive.

RETURN TO FINANCE

Regeneration that can sustain itself. A landscape needs to remain productive and economically viable for regeneration to last. We look at how ecological health, production and livelihoods can strengthen one another over time.

RETURN TO SOCIAL

Stronger communities and shared knowledge. Regeneration brings people together - to participate, share knowledge, collaborate and build relationships around the landscapes they care for. We want these connections to grow alongside the land itself.

WE DON'T JUST GROW. WE LEARN.

The forest has always been our greatest teacher. Every season reveals something new about soil, water, biodiversity and the relationships that shape a healthy ecosystem.

That is why we believe observation is just as important as cultivation. Rather than relying on assumptions, we measure what the landscape is telling us so that every decision is informed by evidence and every season helps us improve

WHAT WE MEASURE

We don't ask people to trust us simply because we say the right things. We believe trust is built through transparency.

Across our collectives, we continuously observe and measure indicators that help us understand both the health of the landscape and the quality of what it produces.

For the land, we study soil biology, microbial diversity, biodiversity, water systems and ecological change.

For coffee, we track harvest dates, cherry quality, density and Brix, fermentation conditions, pH, humidity, water activity, drying, moisture and lot-level traceability.

We also use residue testing and soil-health assessments to understand what is happening beyond what we can see.

Across our produce, we document origins, farming practices and seasonal learnings so that every harvest leaves us with a deeper understanding than the one before.

Because regeneration isn't something we simply hope for.

It is something we observe, measure and learn from.

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

What began with regenerating one abandoned coffee landscape has grown into a network of regenerative collectives across India.

Today, 700+ acres across our collective landscapes are under regeneration, spanning very different ecologies and producing coffee, rice, wheat, honey, spices, pulses and other forest-friendly produce.

From the forests of the Western Ghats to the dry landscapes of the Deccan and the agricultural landscapes of Central India, each collective brings its own challenges, knowledge and possibilities.

And beyond the landscapes themselves, Bewild is reaching more people through a growing network of cafés and trusted partner spaces across India.

Yet we still think of ourselves as students. Every landscape teaches us. Every collective adds another perspective. Every harvest asks better questions than the one before.

OUR PROMISE

Bewild has never been about creating another food brand. It is about proving that the way we grow food can leave the world better than we found it.

That landscapes can become richer, not poorer. That healthy ecosystems can nourish healthy communities. And that every ingredient can carry the story of the place, the people and the care that brought it to life.

This story is still being written.

Every landscape we regenerate adds another chapter. Every harvest deepens our understanding. And every person who chooses Bewild becomes part of that journey