Heh! I can really sympathize with this. Coffee for me is a near obsession as well as a day-starting necessity.

But honestly, your idea of pre-prep'ing the coffee maker the night before is a perfectly valid one. The flavour is just not going to change that much by it sitting overnight. Plus you can arrange for the coffee maker to start by itself on a timer.

Personally I'm so fussed about the coffee flavours that I subject myself to the whole complex pour-over routine, complete with grinding beans fresh, weighing everything and timing all the steps. I only manage to accomplish this crazy process first thing in the morning in my sleep-crazed state by having practiced the routine countless times so I can almost do it in my sleep.

But the coffee is simply heavenly, so it's all worth it!