FOR exotic coffee buffs like Geoff Watts, the search for the perfect bean isn't the solitary quest it once was.

On a recent visit to Ethiopia's southern Yirgacheffe region eight hours from Addis Ababa, the buyer for Intelligentsia Coffee bumped into a familiar face.

"I saw a white guy walking around in a field, and it turned out he was a friend and competitor," said Watts.

US craft coffee purveyors are getting less lonely. The segment is a small but growing slice of the US$27.9 billion US coffee market, which has increased in recent years at an annual average rate of 5.6 percent and may reach US$33.7 billion by 2018, according to research firm IBISWorld.

Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle Coffee and Stumptown Coffee Roasters lead the so-called "third wave" or "slow coffee" movement, while industry behemoth Starbucks Corp shows off its craft roots selling limited-supply "reserve" coffees for up to US$50 for a half-pound bag.

During the last two years, private equity firms, venture capitalists and wealthy individuals such as former professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, and tech luminaries Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom and Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter and Square, have poured in well over US$55 million.

Not your typical retirement investors, they are often coffee connoisseurs themselves and are eager to capitalize on the new breed of enthusiasts.

Customers are willing to pay dearly for their java habit - US$80 for a half-pound of rare, roasted beans and US$3 and up for a cup of individually prepared "pour over," high-tech "siphon" coffee, or old school espresso. Those prices are as much as triple the cost for an average cup of coffee and bean prices are at least 10 times more. Experts also wonder if there will be enough demand beyond wealthy, urban enclaves to support meaningful growth.

"I don't think the (exotic) market is that big," said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant analyst for the NPD Group's foodservice unit. While many people may try such coffees as a treat, winning the loyal, frequent users needed to support significant growth will be a challenge, she said.

Blue Bottle founder James Freeman and his peers say they do not aspire to Wall Street-style expansions, nor the pricey exclusivity of high-end wine.

For around US$5, "you can have an incredible experience at a high-end coffee bar and get something impeccably sourced and roasted and made," said Freeman. "It's the democratization of luxury."