Take it from Billy Hutchings, a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur. He has traveled all over the country for work and always stops to sample the local espresso.

“If you see a roaster in-house, that’s a telltale sign the coffee is going to be better than Starbucks,” Hutchings said Thursday from a couch inside Buddy Brew Coffee on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa. “It’s all about the appreciation of the craft. The people here are taking the time to make this special cup for us.”

Similar to the craft beer movement that has exploded in Tampa Bay, locally roasted coffee is on the up-and-up. The people here demand a better cup of coffee, and they’re willing to go out of their way to find it.

“Coffee has its own culture now. Starbucks was so 2005. This next generation — the millennials — want their own identity when it comes to coffee,” said Brian Connors of Connors Davis Hospitality, a global food and beverage consulting firm in Fort Lauderdale. “Similar to wine, coffee nerds appreciate the taste. And they want their money to go back into a community they feel a part of.”

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