Mr. Coffee Elite Programmable Coffeemaker

When I got my first apartment, the first thing I needed to buy for it was a coffeemaker, since I knew I could not do anything else until I had coffee in me. I thought it would be nice to have a programmable coffee pot, so the coffee would be ready for me when I woke up in the morning, but I wanted something that would be simple to use and relatively inexpensive. I found the Mr. Coffee Elite on a good sale, and it fit all of my requirements; in the three years I’ve had it since then, I have been very happy with it.

The Mr. Coffee Elite is a basic programmable drip coffee pot, which uses basket shaped filters. The carafe of the coffee pot is measured and marked clearly to ten cups; filling the pot to the top with water is enough to make twelve cups of coffee. The front of the coffee maker displays a digital clock, with small lights that indicate the current setting of the coffeemaker. Once the clock is set, the coffeemaker is easy to program by hitting the select button repeatedly until the LED light next to the word “auto start” lights up. In addition to the auto-start feature, the Mr. Coffee Elite has a special setting for making four-cup pots of coffee, which runs the water through the grounds at a different speed in order to make the coffee strong enough. The heating element in the base of the coffeemaker has variable heat settings that can be adjusted with a knob. Also, as a comfort to those as scatter-brained as I am, the Mr. Coffee Elite has an auto-shutoff function, which turns the heat plate off automatically thirty minutes after the coffee is brewed. The machine beeps loudly to let you know it is turning off, so that you can turn it back on manually if you so desire.

While I found the Mr. Coffee Elite to be relatively easy to use – you only need to hit one button until the setting you are looking for lights up – my parents at first found it a bit confusing. Compared to the old Mr. Coffee drip coffeemaker that they had always had, which only needed to be turned off or on, this coffee maker is a bit more complicated. You need to choose whether you want the coffee maker on or auto-set, whether you want a short pot or full pot, whether you want the hot plate on or off. However, with a little bit of patience and practice, setting the coffee pot up for morning becomes so second nature that it can be done with your eyes closed.

Having a programmable coffee maker has made my morning routing much easier. When I wake up in the morning, I can smell fresh coffee, grab it, and run out the door. I definitely recommend the Mr. Coffee Elite to anyone who is looking for a good, basic coffeemaker and who doesn’t want to spend a fortune on it.