If there’s one thing I miss about late night college study sessions, it’s the moments I’d decide to drop whatever I was doing to embark on a bubble tea break. In those grueling hours, there was nothing that could convince me that whatever assignment I was working on couldn’t wait until after I downed a taro milk tea or mango smoothie. It made any task a thousand times more bearable, and even now I still stand by rewarding myself with a cup as a treat after a long day.

Bubble tea, also known as boba tea or pearl tea drink, originated in Taiwan in the early 1980s. It was Liu Han-Chieh, the owner of a tea store, who first came up with the idea to serve tea cold. Adding boba to the drink was introduced later, when product development manager Lin Hsiu Hui worked with Liu to combine the Taiwanese dessert, fen yuan, or sweetened tapioca pudding, with tea. The innovation quickly caught on, and tapioca became an essential part of cold tea drinks. I remember the first time ever trying bubble tea as a kid, and being taken back by the strange solids in my cup. I didn’t like it at first, but as the years went on, it became my saving grace. The cold tea, creamy milk and chewy pearls all come together perfectly to create a thirst-quenching and addicting dessert beverage.

My favorite thing about bubble tea tattoos is how creative artists get with their designs. Little creatures such as soot spirits or Kirby stars take the place of the boba, and the cup itself can be transformed into a Pokémon or No Face from “Spirited Away.” There’s no limit to the possibilities of turning a cup of bubble tea into a fantastical creation, while still highlighting the distinct qualities of the delectable drink itself. Hopefully these bubble tea tattoos will inspire some new ink, or if anything, an excuse to indulge in a cup of that sugary goodness after you’re done looking.