Boba tea can quench your thirst and satisfy your hunger at the same time. The boba (also called bubbles) are large "pearls" of chewy tapioca and they're served in a tall glass of sweetened milk tea.

When the Taiwanese drink first appeared in Hong Kong (around the late 1990s), there wasn't much variety. Today that situation is vastly different.

Specialist shops (such as the Gong Cha and Saint's Alp chains) offer the sweet milk tea flavoured with ingredients such as fruit, flowers, herbs and spices. Boba coffee and boba chocolate can also be found, and most shops let you customise the drink by specifying the amount of sugar syrup you want them to add.

Boba tea is quite a filling snack. For one thing, it's large, but also, the bubbles are solid and heavy. Normally, a disposable cup is sealed with a tight plastic lid, which prevents the drink from spilling. The diner then pierces the plastic with a thick straw that is wide enough to allow the bubbles to be sucked up along with the drink.