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Hack your coffee maker to start brewing the moment you wake up

It's one thing to have your coffee maker on a schedule. It's something else entirely to have it turn on and brew a cup of coffee, only after you wake up and without pressing a single button.

Taylor Martin CNET Contributor
Taylor Martin has covered technology online for over six years. He has reviewed smartphones for Pocketnow and Android Authority and loves building stuff on his YouTube channel, MOD. He has a dangerous obsession with coffee and is afraid of free time.
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Taylor Martin
2 min read

Coffee makers like the Keurig have had the ability to power on and begin heating the water on a set schedule for years now. It's incredibly convenient to wake up to hot water, pop in a pod, push a button and have hot, brewed coffee in a minute or less.

But what if could have your coffee made each morning without pushing a button? And what if you don't wake up at the same time every day?

Learn how you can have your morning cup brewed, automatically, only after you get out of bed every morning.

What you'll need

The downside to making coffee automatically every morning is that it doesn't come cheap. In total, the smart devices will cost you between $200 and $350.

  • A Fitbit, Jawbone Up or another fitness tracker which tracks sleep and integrates with IFTTT. (All current Jawbone Up trackers track sleep, while the only currently available Fitbit that does not track sleep is the Zip.) These trackers range from $100 to $250.
  • A Mr. Coffee Smart Optimal Brew, which is WeMo-enabled and integrates with IFTTT. The Mr. Coffee Smart Optimal Brew retails for $150, but can currently be found online for around $111.
  • An IFTTT account with active channels for your fitness tracker and the coffee maker.

To activate the channels, create or log in to your account at ifttt.com. Click "Channels" in the upper-right corner of the site. Type the brand of fitness tracker in the search bar, click the corresponding icon in the results, click Connect and authenticate the connection. Repeat these steps for the WeMo Coffeemaker channel.

How to automatically brew coffee after you wake up

Once you have the proper devices and the IFTTT channels activated, setting up the recipe should only take a minute or so.

IFTTT Recipe: Wake up to freshly brewed coffee connects fitbit to wemo-coffeemaker

  • Start by navigating to ifttt.com in your browser. To create a new recipe, click on your username in the top-left corner and select "Create."
  • Click "This" and search for the corresponding channel for your fitness tracker. For this example, I am using Fitbit.
  • For the Trigger, choose "New sleep logged" then click "Create Trigger." (Not every sleep tracker has a trigger for sleep logged. If this is the case for your tracker, select "Sleep duration above" and enter a sleep duration that's higher than any nap you may take, but not longer than a solid night's rest -- roughly between 4 and 6 hours.)
  • For Action Channel, search for "coffee" and select the WeMo Coffeemaker channel.
  • For the Action, choose "Brew coffee" and select your coffee maker in the dropdown menu.
  • Click "Create Action," then click "Create Recipe."

Now when your tracker syncs with your phone in the morning, your coffee maker will turn on and begin to brew coffee, but only after you've woken up. Just don't forget to put water and coffee in the coffee maker before going to bed.