US-based consumer products development company NuZee has received an exclusive North America License for coffee manufacturing technology as part of a joint agreement with Nasa and Fuso Industries.

Nasa has granted its machinery brand FUSO to NuZee for manufacturing its coffee blenders drip cup coffee products.

The agreement will commence from 1 January 2018.

NuZee CEO Masa Higashida said: “This exclusive US license provides us with a significant barrier to entry with respect to the manufacture of drip cup coffee.

“Our total revenues for the nine months ended 30 June 2017 rose to $1.2m from $455,000 in all of fiscal year (FY) ending 2016.”

“Our total revenues for the nine months ended 30 June 2017 rose to $1.2m from $455,000 in all of fiscal year (FY) ending 2016, driven in large part by higher sales of our Drip Cup line of functional coffees, which we began selling in the US and Asia in 2015.

“We expect Drip Cup sales to rise throughout FY ending 2018, and this technology will allow us to meet anticipated growing market demand.”

The FUSO brand manufactures drip cups for the Japan market, which has a consumption of approximately 2.3b cups annually.

NuZee president and COO Travis Gorney said: “We are very pleased to formalise our relationship with Nasa, whose technology we have utilised for the last several years. The drip cup is a common and popular brewing method in Asia and we are encouraged by the reception it has received in the US.

“The portable Drip Cup is ideal for campers, college students, outdoor enthusiasts, and coffee-lovers in general, and allows consumers to conveniently craft quality gourmet coffee virtually anywhere.”

Founded in 1980, Nasa’s line of business includes the wholesale distribution of industrial machinery and equipment.