The Guinness World Record For Quickest Coffee Chug May Shock You
It seems that for some of us, that fresh cup of joe to start the day is the only thing keeping us productive throughout those early morning hours. So popular is this early morning drink that, in 2020 alone, 62% of Americans drink coffee, with the average coffee connoisseur enjoying over three cups per day (via National Coffee Association).
The idea of the average person drinking down three cups of coffee in rapid machine-gun-like succession may sound like a riff on the stereotypical white-collar office lifestyle, but there's actually some form of truth to that. In 1927, a San Francisco man once drank a staggering 157 cups of coffee over the course of six hours for a $50 stake (via Click Americana) and there's Charles Anderson, a writer and illustrator in Canada who's up to 25 cups of coffee a day (via Grub Street). But these are all just spread out over the course of hours, not just shotgunned in a matter of seconds. Surely it couldn't be possible to swallow a hot cup of coffee so fast, right? Enter one Luke Ibbetson to test the limits of how fast man can consume his joe.
There is a world record for coffee chugging
On December 5, 2020, London citizen Luke Ibbetson entered Guinness World Records simply by drinking a cup of coffee — a cup of coffee in under 3.66 seconds, that is. According to Ibbetson, he started drinking coffee around the age of six or seven, sneaking sips of his parents' coffee when they weren't looking.
His love of coffee grew, to the point where he would find himself gulping down a fresh hot coffee without even thinking. It was this unique talent that got him thinking about how he could break a record. On that brisk December day, Ibbetson took a fresh cup of coffee, and in the blink of an eye, emptied the whole cup — though, this was not without some discomfort, as he notes it took 10 minutes for his mouth to return to normal.
When asked what becoming a world record holder meant to him, Ibbetson – a long-time collector of Guinness World Records books — stated: "To see what humans are able to achieve when they put their mind to it is nothing short of inspiring — so to be a part of that would be something special."