Description
What the Mr. Coffee Simple Brew Is
This is a basic drip coffee machine, listed as model SK12-RB in white. There is no timer, no strength control, no thermal carafe and no adjustable anything. Ground coffee goes in a permanent filter basket, water goes in the reservoir, and the machine brews a pot onto a warming plate. The specification table lists the filter type as reusable, the coffee input type as ground coffee and the interface as buttons.
Simplicity is the entire proposition, and it is a reasonable one. A machine with fewer features has fewer things to break, costs less to buy and takes no learning. Buyers who want a timer so coffee is waiting in the morning should look at a programmable machine such as the Bella 12 cup brewer, and those who want adjustable brewing should look at the coffee machines category more broadly.
Auto Pause and the Water Windows
Mr. Coffee’s copy describes a Grab-A-Cup Auto Pause, which stops the flow from the basket when the carafe is removed mid brew, so a cup can be poured before the pot finishes. It is a small feature that gets used every day in a household where somebody leaves earlier than the others. It should be used briefly rather than for a long pause, because the brew basket continues to fill while the carafe is out.
The dual water windows are the other detail worth mentioning. A window on each side of the reservoir means the fill level is visible from either direction, which matters when a machine sits against a wall or in a corner where only one side is reachable. Neither of these is a headline feature, and both are the sort of thing that separates a machine that is pleasant to use from one that is merely functional.
The Permanent Filter and Cleaning
The permanent filter is a mesh basket that replaces paper. It removes the running cost and the errand, and it changes the cup: mesh passes coffee oils through, which gives a heavier body and a little sediment, while paper traps them for a cleaner result. Most machines of this type will accept a paper filter in the basket if the owner prefers that, though the listing does not confirm it.
A mesh basket does need real cleaning rather than a rinse, since coffee oils accumulate in the mesh and eventually turn rancid, which taints every subsequent pot. The listing copy describes the basket as lifting out for cleaning, which is what makes that practical. Descaling is the other maintenance job, and its frequency depends entirely on the hardness of the local water supply.
Size, Power and Placement
The listed dimensions are 9.2 inches deep by 12.3 inches wide by 13.6 inches tall, and the listed voltage is 110, which is within standard North American household supply. No wattage is published, so the circuit load cannot be assessed from this data. A drip machine draws hard while its heating element is on, so the sensible practice is to avoid sharing an outlet with a toaster or a microwave.
At 13.6 inches tall it will not fit under most upper cabinets with the lid free to open. The listed weight of 3.6 pounds is light for a 12 cup machine with a glass carafe, which typically run five to eight pounds, so that figure may describe the machine without the carafe or may simply be wrong. A light machine can also shift on the counter when the carafe is pulled out, which is worth noting given the auto pause feature invites exactly that.
Getting a Good Pot From a Basic Machine
A simple drip machine gives the user two levers, dose and grind, and both matter more than the machine does. The usual filter coffee guideline is around two tablespoons of ground coffee per six ounces of water, which for a full pot here means roughly ten to twelve. The most common reason a basic machine produces weak coffee is that the owner uses the scoop count from a smaller brewer.
Grind should be medium, roughly the texture of coarse sand. Too fine and the bed chokes, which slows the flow and over extracts. Too coarse and the water runs through before it has done much. Freshness is the third factor and it applies to every brewer equally: coffee ground weeks ago will taste flat regardless of what the machine does. None of this is specific to this Mr. Coffee, but a machine with no adjustments puts all the responsibility on the coffee, which is exactly why a good grinder matters more than a fancy brewer. Households ready to take that step should look at a machine with a grinder built in, such as the Breville Barista Touch, or at a manual method with a separate grinder.
Highlights
- Grab-A-Cup Auto Pause for pouring a cup before the pot finishes.
- Dual water windows so the fill level is visible from either side.
- Permanent reusable filter with no paper to buy.
- Lift out filter basket for straightforward cleaning.
- Indicator lights showing when the machine is on.
- Simple button operation with nothing to program.
- Listed at 110 volts on a compact 9.2 inch depth.
Things To Consider
The specification table describes the coffee maker type as a Moka Pot. That is wrong. A moka pot is a stovetop pressure brewer, and this is an electric drip machine with a carafe and a warming plate. The included components field is also junk, reading as a list of category names rather than contents. The special feature field says Manual while the operation mode field says Manual as well, yet the machine brews automatically once started, so the fields tell you very little.
No carafe capacity is published in the specification data, so the 12 cup figure comes from the product title. Note that a cup on a coffee machine is counted as roughly five ounces, so 12 cups is about 60 ounces, or around five large mugs.
The functional limitation is the warming plate. Coffee held on a hot plate starts to flatten and take on a burnt edge within about half an hour, and there is no thermal carafe option here. A household that drinks the pot over a morning should buy a thermal machine such as the Zojirushi EC-YTC100XB instead. There is also no timer, so nobody is waking up to coffee already made.
Who Should Buy It and Who Should Skip It
This suits a household that wants a pot of coffee with no complications, a second machine for a basement or a workshop, or a first machine for someone setting up a kitchen. It is light, simple and cheap to run, and the auto pause and dual water windows are genuinely thoughtful for a machine at this level.
Skip it if you want coffee waiting when you get up, if you hold the pot for hours, or if you want any control over how it brews. Anyone drinking a single cup a day should look at a pour over such as the Hario V60 plastic dripper or a pod machine, both of which waste far less coffee than brewing a pot for one.
