JM Estrada

Sources: JM Estrada (website)


JM Estrada S.A. is a Colombian agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in 1865 in La Estrella, Antioquia. It is the oldest continuous manufacturer of coffee depulpers in Colombia — some of its machines have been in operation for over a century. The company manufactures a complete coffee processing line covering wet milling, drying, dry milling, and roasting equipment, and is the primary Latin American source for the Guardiola drum dryer.


Company Overview

AttributeDetail
CountryColombia
Founded1865 (Ferrería de Amagá) · 1876 (Estrella depulper line) · merged 1951
HQ — FactoryCra 55 Nº 87 Sur-146 Ancón Sur, La Estrella, Antioquia
StoreCra 50 Nº 40-05, Medellín, Antioquia
Factory sales (WhatsApp)+57 311 7627829
Store (Medellín)+57 310 8317295 · +57 314 6184753
General infoinfo@jmestrada.com
Salesventas@jmestrada.com
CertificationISO 9001 (IQNet)
Current CEOJorge Eduardo Estrada M. (4th generation)

Coffee Product Lines

Wet Processing

ProductNotes
Depulpers (DH series)Models No. 2, 2½, 2¾, 3, 3½, 4½, 5, 5¾, 6, 8 — horizontal drum depulpers
BECOLSUB integrated wet mills300–20,000 kg/h cherry; ecological system with pulper + zaranda + Deslim demucilager; see below
ECOMILL-CenicaféWater-reduced washing licensed from Cenicafé; see below
Pre-classifiers and transportSiphon tanks, stone traps, screw conveyors, bucket elevators, mechanical cherry sorter

Drying

ProductModelsCapacity range
Guardiola drum dryers20@, 100@, 200@, 450@ (sold; full engineering range 12@–450@)312.5–5,625 kg CPS
Automatic vertical dryers100@–720@1,250–9,000 kg
Smart Control dryerAutomated temperature management
Dehumidifier dryerFor high-humidity environments; uses air friction heat, no combustion
Manual and solar dryers7½@–50@, solar dryer car, marquesinaSmall-scale and artisan

Dry Milling

ProductNotes
Trilladoras TC-100, TC-400Small-scale hullers
CPS-TC-1000Medium-scale huller
CCS y NaturalesHuller for dry-process coffees
MonitorIntegrated density/color sorter output screen
Clasificadora densimétricaGravity separator / density table

Other Coffee Equipment

Tostadoras (automatic, manual, semi-automatic), disc mills (molinos de discos), water treatment plants, electronic color sorter.


Guardiola Drum Dryers

The Guardiola is a rotating metal drum through which hot air passes to dehydrate coffee parchment or cherry. JM Estrada is the primary Latin American manufacturer of this equipment type and the origin of the term “Guardiola” as a coffee equipment category in the region.

Capacity Table

Model (arroba)Capacity (kg CPS)Capacity (lb CPS)Volume (m³)Power
12@1503002.52½ HP
20@312.56250.93½ HP
30@3757501.13½ HP
60@6251,2501.96 HP
80@1,0002,0003.07½ HP
100@1,2502,5003.87½ HP
120@1,8753,7505.610 HP
200@2,5005,0007.513¾ HP
240@3,0006,0009.015¾ HP
300@3,7507,50011.320¾ HP
450@5,62511,25016.931 HP

Note: 1 arroba (@) = 12.5 kg. Only the 20@, 100@, 200@, and 450@ models are listed as active products on the website; other sizes are shown in the engineering spec table.

Minimum relevant model for Kaiserblick: the 20@ (312.5 kg, 3½ HP) for initial mechanical drying complement to patio drying.

JM Estrada notes that their automatic vertical dryers (secadoras automáticas) achieve superior drying homogeneity to the Guardiola, using a 2-minute mix / 15-minute rest cycle (patented 2007, Cooperativa de Anserma installation). The Guardiola remains preferred for its simplicity and robustness at smaller scales.


BECOLSUB Integrated Wet Mills

BECOLSUB stands for “Beneficio Ecológico y Manejo de Subproductos” (Ecological Wet Mill and Byproduct Management). BECOLSUB is a Cenicafé-standardised design — not JM Estrada’s exclusive product — manufactured independently by multiple Colombian companies including JM Estrada and Jotagallo. JM Estrada’s BECOLSUB implementation uses Cenicafé technology and combines depulper + rotary classifier (zaranda) + Deslim mechanical demucilager. It combines depulper + rotary classifier (zaranda) + mechanical demucilager (“Deslim”) in a single assembly, with a screw conveyor to transport pulp and mucilage away from the processing area.

Model (kg/h cherry)Pulper + zaranda motorDeslim demucilager motorMucilage screw
BECOLSUB-3001 HP1.5 HP4” × 2 m
BECOLSUB-6001 HP2 HP4” × 3 m
BECOLSUB-10001.5 HP3 HP4” × 3 m
BECOLSUB-18003 HP5 HP4” × 3 m
BECOLSUB-25003 HP7.5 HP6” × 3 m
BECOLSUB-50005 HP10 HP6” × 5 m
BECOLSUB-75007.5 HP12 HP6” × 7 m
BECOLSUB-100002×5 HP2×10 HP6” × 10 m
BECOLSUB-150003×5 HP3×10 HP8” × 13 m
BECOLSUB-200004×5 HP4×10 HP8” × 17 m

The BECOLSUB-300 is a direct competitor to the Penagos ECOLINE-400 at micro-mill scale. Unlike Penagos, the BECOLSUB retains traditional fermentation and uses mechanical mucilage removal rather than zero-water pulping — it is not a zero-water system.


ECOMILL-Cenicafé

JM Estrada manufactures the ECOMILL® under license from Cenicafé (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de Café — Colombia’s national coffee research institute). Like BECOLSUB, ECOMILL is a Cenicafé-licensed design also produced by Jotagallo and potentially other Colombian manufacturers. This is a water-reduced washing system that retains traditional natural fermentation but replaces the water-channel washing stage with a mechanical horizontal-flow washer.

Key performance data (from Cenicafé evaluations):

ModelCapacity (kg washed/h)Water (L/min)Water (L/kg DPC)Energy (kWh/kg DPC)Mechanical damage
ECOMILL 500435–4951.6–1.80.32–0.373.40.1–0.34%
ECOMILL 15001,507–1,5655.5–6.50.40–0.432.60.1–0.56%
ECOMILL 30002,600–2,81511.5–12.50.49–0.531.480.0–1.10%

Water reduction: from 20 L/kg DPC (traditional washing) to 0.3–0.5 L/kg DPC — over 97% reduction. Mucilage removal: >98%. These figures are comparable to Penagos’s 0.2 L/kg cherry claim (different denominators make direct comparison complex).


Cherry Drying and Hulling (Zero-Water Natural System)

JM Estrada markets a 2-step specialty natural processing system:

  1. Fresh cherry → automatic dehumidifier dryer; moisture evaporated by air friction heat with no water, no combustion fuel, no emissions; multi-stage process (3 stages with reloading between stages)
  2. Dried cherry → JM Estrada cherry huller; compressed air turbine separates skin and parchment from bean

Claimed advantages: zero water consumption, zero combustion, zero residues; husk exits dry and can be used as compost or tea cascara.


Reference Installations

ProjectLocationYearScale
Ipanema CoffeesMinas Gerais, Brazil20178M kg cherry/year; specialty center; mechanical harvest
COOCENTRALGarzón, Huila, Colombia20124M kg DPC/year; combined vertical + Guardiola drying
FarallonesCiudad Bolívar, Antioquia5M kg cherry/year; full wet + drying
Kona, HawaiiHawaii, USA200010–13 bags/hr hulling and grading
Cooperativa AnsermaAnserma, Caldas, Colombia202220,000 kg/h ecological; electronic sorter
Cooperativa de Andes / COLCAFECiudad Bolívar, Antioquia201630,000@/year pulping and drying
AGRICEFT PLCEthiopia2018100,000 kg cherry/day
ETHIO AGRICEFTEthiopia20182,500 kg/h
BEHALAND LTDEthiopia20182,500 kg/h

Central America: Listed as a project region on the website, but no Central American installations are shown in the project gallery. No El Salvador distributor, contact, or reference installation was found.


Procurement Path for Kaiserblick

No distributor exists in El Salvador or Central America. Direct contact with Colombia factory is the only documented path:

Relevant products at Kaiserblick scale:

  • Guardiola-20@ (312.5 kg CPS) — smallest drum dryer for mechanical drying complement
  • BECOLSUB-300 (300 kg/h cherry) — alternative wet mill to Penagos ECOLINE; uses fermentation route
  • ECOMILL-500 — water-reduced washing if Cenicafé technology is preferred over Penagos