The Mr. Coffee ‘brew now’ button is an escape from sleepiness

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge

In the age of aesthetically pleasing morning routines, a cheap electric coffee maker can feel a bit dated, something to begrudgingly use at the office rather than a device that brings joy to your kitchen. I love the fancy coffee gadgets that require a manual, multi-step ritual, but there is one thing that makes me turn to a standard Mr. Coffee machine every morning.

I don't have to navigate the complexity of brewing temp or ratios while I'm still half-asleep because of the single-button operation. I press it, it lights up, and the machine gurgles to life, heating up water and pushing it up a tube onto the coffee grounds I added to it. I only have to decide how much coffee I need to get through the day.

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge

The Mr. Coffee is simple to use, but it requires more than just pressing a button. You will have to get out a paper filter, scoop in some coffee, and fill up the tank before pressing brew. This can be done the night before. The Mr. Coffee doesn't require a ritual that comes with more social media-friendly Moka pots, Aeropresses, and Chem.

It's hard to imagine a better version of this button than the one on my Mr. Coffee. It's big enough that you don't have to be precise early in the morning. The machine makes when it starts heating up, and that makes it sound incredible. My brain interprets the click of the electronics as the click of the button because it turns on as soon as you hit it.

Photo by Mitchell Clark / The Verge

It may come as a surprise that this is not an expensive coffee maker, given how good the button is. My Mr. Coffee is one of the least expensive offerings. The American volumetric standard of measurement is five ounces, which means my machine can brew about two mugs of coffee. My Best Buy order history shows that I bought it for $25 last year, shortly after I started at The Verge, and realized my mornings were becoming too busy to carry out my Chemex ritual. The coffee pot has been $4 cheaper since then.

When you move up to more expensive coffee machines, you run the risk of the buttons getting worse, because there are other coffee machines that have the same buttons. I have seen coffee makers where the brew button is small and part of a crowded panel. Some of them have touch-sensitive buttons.

I won't judge anyone for choosing a fancy model for their countertop, but it's not for me. I like the fact that I can operate the machine that gets me coffee while my brain capacity is less than 2 percent. The snooze button that I may or may not hit a few times, may live up to several more years of sleepy jabs.