People sometimes find themselves facing DUI charges specifically because they heard a myth about how to reduce their blood alcohol concentration, so they believe they were under the legal limit when they actually were still over that limit. One of the most common myths is that you can drink a cup of hot black coffee and that it will help your BAC go down quickly so that you can drive, even if you’ve been consuming alcohol.
In reality, drinking coffee doesn’t change your BAC at all. If you had a BAC of 0.09% and you spent 10 minutes quickly drinking a cup of coffee, you’d still be over the legal limit when you got in your car. It’s important to understand that this is a myth so that you don’t accidentally put yourself at risk of facing serious legal charges.
Why do people think it works?
The likely reason why people think that hot coffee can help is because it wakes you up. A hot drink at the end of the night gives a jolt to your system. The caffeine wakes you up and makes you feel more alert.
Often, people who have been drinking are feeling rather fatigued, and the coffee quickly reverses this effect. They mistake feeling alert for being sober, when all they actually are is an impaired driver who is also heavily caffeinated.
The only real way to reduce your BAC is to wait. It goes down at a steady rate of around 0.015% per hour, so you just have to give your body enough time to metabolize the alcohol and get back under the legal limit.
Your defense options
If you do find yourself facing DUI charges, they can result in the loss of a driver’s license, fines, jail time, and more. Make sure you know exactly what defense options you have.