People try a lot of different tactics to sober up before they get in the car. They may be at a point where they know they shouldn’t drive, but they also don’t want to pay for a ride home, so they’ll do anything they can think of to reduce their blood alcohol concentration.
One common tactic that you’ll hear people talk about is going to get a cup of coffee before they drive home. They believe that the caffeine helps to sober them up, so they make the last drink of the night a mug of coffee at the local coffee shop. Then they get in the car, thinking it is now safe for them to drive. But is it?
Coffee doesn’t change your intoxication level
Drinking coffee may help in the sense that caffeine can wake you up. If you were feeling tired because you’d been drinking with your friends, you may feel a bit more alert after you have that cup of coffee. And your blood alcohol concentration may drop slightly in the time that it takes you to go get the cup of coffee and drink it.
But the coffee itself doesn’t change your intoxication level at all, and it does not make you soberer than you were before. Only time can do that, which is why going to get the cup of coffee helps more than actually drinking it. But you can definitely still get a DWI in Texas, even if you tried to use coffee to sober up first.
What are your legal options?
If you are facing serious charges and you’re worried about all the ramifications moving forward, make sure that you understand the legal defense options that you have.