--- ---  # Woman Chugging Coffee in the Audience Is an Accidental Star of the Impeachment Hearings by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 19, 2019 7:30 PM UTC  a large group of coffe cups placed in a pattern with one red cup standing out a large group of coffe cups placed in a pattern with one red cup standing outGetty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 19, 2019 7:30 PM UTC Public [hearings](https://time.com/5732117/impeachment-hearings-live-vindman-volker/) in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump are in their second week at the House Intelligence Committee. And while the hearings have featured testimony from Ambassador Marie “Masha” [Yovanovitch](https://time.com/5718804/us-ambassador-ukraine-testimony/) and — as of Tuesday, officials who directly listened in on Trump’s [July 25 phone call](https://time.com/5685947/trump-ukraine-call/) with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky](https://time.com/longform/ukraine-presidential-election/) — a young woman seemingly desperately chugging coffee on camera caught the interest of many people at home. An eagle-eyed viewer was watching the proceedings on CNN, but when their attention wandered to the audience, they spotted something funny—a woman chugging her coffee, apparently realizing she’s on camera, and then returning to chugging. “Watching this mysterious woman chug her coffee, notice she’s on camera, and then finish chugging it is a lot more interesting than the actual testimony,” tweeted Patrick Ward, sharing a video of the image he captured during the hearing. > [](https://twitter.com/Spaz696969/status/1196804902141362176) Other political watchers caught the footage, too, and headed to Twitter to share the image or their thoughts on the woman’s urgent need for caffeine: > [](https://twitter.com/OldBlackHack/status/1196847168579133447) > [](https://twitter.com/elizabethhilts/status/1196804202363867136) > [](https://twitter.com/kelleyalisa/status/1196804163943841793) > [](https://twitter.com/Um%5FHamza84/status/1196804350875783168) > [](https://twitter.com/greggrunberg/status/1196805415272452097) While there’s no way of knowing, other people weren’t convinced the coffee cup actually contained coffee at all, but perhaps held something a little stronger: > [](https://twitter.com/anothermommess/status/1196827018383376385) > [](https://twitter.com/spur4trish/status/1196809968822960129) One thing is for certain, though, whoever the woman is her coffee drinking was very relatable: > [](https://twitter.com/cornfieldgirl/status/1196804295024353280) > [](https://twitter.com/PrplPolitics117/status/1196804420928860161) Woman Chugging Coffee Is the Impeachment Hearings Star ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5732497/impeachment-hearings-coffee/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5732497/impeachment-hearings-coffee/"},"headline":"Woman Chugging Coffee in the Audience Is an Accidental Star of the Impeachment Hearings","datePublished":"2019-11-19T19:30:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:03.891Z","description":"Sometimes you just really need some coffee, you know?","url":"https://time.com/5732497/impeachment-hearings-coffee/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd19227d57991575f/698a064d22fb85a962e2a2ea/coffee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd19227d57991575f/698a064d22fb85a962e2a2ea/coffee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"standing out from the crowd","caption":"Coffee","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5732497/impeachment-hearings-coffee/","name":"Woman Chugging Coffee in the Audience Is an Accidental Star of the Impeachment Hearings"}}]}] ```