Consumer herbal drinks consumption should be monitored since limited knowledge of possible herbal drinks harmful effects may put the consumer in danger. It is necessary to assess whether the demographic profile shifts the awareness and practice of consumers towards the consumption of herbal tea. This study compares the relationship between demographic profile with knowledge, attitude, and practices of herbal tea. Next, the association between demographic profile with knowledge, attitude and practices of herbal tea was studied. A cross sectional study was conducted using survey questionnaire, distributed using online platform and validated with reliability of Cronbach alpha with value >0.7. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistic, t-test, one-way ANOVA and chi square test. Result showed that from a total of 168 respondents, majority (72.6%) respondents have a moderate knowledge toward herbal tea and about 44.6% respondents have moderate attitude level toward herbal tea. Knowledge and attitude level relationship was insignificant (p>0.05). Moreover, comparison between knowledge level and higher educational level show significant difference (p<0.05) while the association between attitude level with age, occupation, ethnic and highest educational level show significance different at 0.043, 0.003, 0.023 and 0.020 respectively. The significance different shows that, there is measurable different between two group. Consumer consumption practices also varies among the demographic as examples: consumers prefer herbal tea in tea bag compared with other form and consumer with age range 18-26 years old prefer to buy herbal products from hypermarket/minimarket while older consumers prefer to buy from agent/ stockist. The Malaysian consumers are relatively knowledgeable on herbal tea products and believe that herbal teas were safe for consumption. The consumption practices association is used to determine consumer behavior toward herbal tea consumption and their buying decision.

Keywords: herbal drink, educational level, demographic, consumption, ethnic

ANOVA, analysis of variance; SPSS, statistical package for social sciences

Tea is made of processed leaf of Camellia sinensis and classified as fully fermented (black), not fermented (green) and half fermented (oolong). Drying processes and fermentation distinguish the tea type and its chemical composition.¹ Tea is considered major component of the world beverage market as it is the most popular and lowest cost of beverages. China is considered the biggest producer of tea with production of 1,939,457 tonnes, followed by India (1,208,780 tonnes) and Kenya (432,400 tonnes).² Tanui et al.³ claimed that black and green tea are the most important types globally with green tea produced and consumed in China while black tea production is over 70%.According to Kasim Mansur, Malaysia is ranked 18^th in Asia as the largest tea producer by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as it contributes to almost half (0.45%) of total tea production in the world. Despite 23 million kilograms consumption annually, Malaysia only manufactures 3.8 million kilograms of black tea. There is a notable rise in the number of Malaysian tea intake with an annual consumption of about 29 million kilograms in 2017 compared to 18 million kilograms in 2007, as reported by the Tea Trade Association of Malaysia. Herbal tea consumption also gains recognition over time, along with black tea consumption.⁴ Herbal tea is technically not considered as tea. It is a mixture of ingredients not originated from Camelia sinensis like a typical tea.⁵ The combination of seed, barks, dried leaves, grasses, fruits, nuts, flowers or other botanical elements is called 'tisanes' herbal tea.⁶ Most country has its renown herbal tea for example Rooibos tea is popular in South Africa, Yerba Mate tea in South America (Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil) and Centella asiatica herbal tea by most Asian people.^7,8

Similarly, tisanes referred as infusions of herbal plants are prepared by steeping in using warm or freshly boiled water with a mixture of botanical ingredients.⁹ It can be flavored by adding mint or vanilla.¹⁰ From 2011 to 2017, Malaysia shows a significant rise in commercial herbal crops cultivated annually, which is about 14% growth from 1,198 hectares to 2,317 hectares. It is an increase in the herbal production from 8,911 tons to 11,674 tons.¹¹ In addition, research on the quality of active ingredients, synergistic effects, vital dosage, side effects, herbal and other medicinal contraindications, and animal and human analysis should be improved to boost the appeal of domestic herbal goods.¹² Herbal teas are widely consumed because of their claim on health improvement and power of herbal that comes from specific active substances present in their tissues.¹³ However, over consumption of medicines could lead to several health issues. There is a research stated that active compound of some herbs may disturb drug metabolism. Teh et al.¹⁴ published on knowledge, attitude, and practice of Chinese herbal tea by M40 group at selected town in Kedah. They found that half of the respondent have a moderate level of knowledge and a nearly positive attitude to Chinese herbal tea. Yao pointed out that, despite the high consumption of herbal teas in China and elsewhere, the claimed-on healthcare benefit is poorly understood by the consumers, which led to difficulty in developing herbal teas health-promoting products. In another study, Rocha et al.¹⁵ reported the herbal tea preparation affect the sensorial properties of herbal tea. The preparation includes temperature and time duration of brewing, water types and ratio of tea to water. There are limited reports on herbal tea consumption practice and preparation of Malaysia consumers.

Chandarasekara and Shahidi⁸ reported that a natural bioactive compound like carotenoids, phenolic acids and flavonoids are abundant in herbal teas. These bioactive compounds exhibit countless biological benefits such as neuroprotective, cardioprotective, chemoprotective, anti-carcinogenic, hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory. However, despite the beneficial effect, the consumption of untested and unregulated herbal tea may have a disadvantage to health as well.¹⁶ It was reported that herbal drink's quality and safety should be monitored since limited knowledge of possible herbal drinks harmful effects may put the consumer in danger for overconsumption of herbal drinks.¹⁷ Thereby, any product used in an indigenous medicinal practice in which the medicinal product contains exclusively of one or more natural plants, animals or minerals substances were classified under Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984 to guarantee security, consistency and effectiveness of the pharmaceutical, medical, conventional and cosmetic products marketed in Malaysia.¹⁸ Apart from that, demand for health-promoting beverages is increasing with emerging interest of a healthy lifestyle.¹⁹ A lot of work and time are required to gather consumer behavior information in a specific market.²⁰ Manufacturers with a consumer-oriented approach are more successful to sell their product like functional beverages and food.²¹ According to Jia Xinn,²² the progress of local herbal tea products has risen by 30% annually since the 1990’s but, the industry lacks systematic marketing and proper scientific research.

It is important to determine whether demographic profile influence consumer knowledge and practice towards herbal tea consumption. Demographic profiles such as age, gender, occupation and education have an effect on the purchasing purpose and use of certain products.²³ Consumers' perception of healthy eating has risen worldwide because of the growth in understanding of the health benefits of herbal products. Consumers recognize consuming food that promotes wellbeing will enhance and sustain their current health status and prevent diseases.²⁴ Review by Jibril et al.²³ claimed that young people with age between 15-30 years old are interested in herbal tea, but recent survey on knowledge and characteristics of herbal supplement usage among community pharmacy customers in a Malaysian population shows that herbal tea consumers were older than average age. It is also reported that women are more conscious and friendly towards herbal products such herbal beverages and supplements usage compared with men. Consumer's education level and employment status shows positive correlation with herbal tea usage. It is believed that the input of herbal tea consumption pattern will assist in expanding the demand of local herbal teas industry to be well recognized globally. However, none has assessed public consumers' knowledge, attitude, and practice towards herbal tea consumption and preparation in Malaysia. Therefore, the objectives of this study are:

1. To evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of public consumers towards herbal tea consumption.
2. To compare the demographic profile among consumers on knowledge, attitude, and practice of herbal tea consumption.
3. To identify the association between knowledge, attitude, practice, and demographic profile towards herbal tea consumption.

Conceptual framework

Figure 1 is a conceptual framework which shows the variables in this study. The rectangle shape indicates the independent variables which are gender, age, occupation, household income and educational level whereas oval shape refers to knowledge, attitude, and practice as the dependent variable in the study. There are significant association between demographic profile and knowledge level of consumers and between demographic profile and herbal tea consumption practices of consumers. Whereas there is a significant difference between demographic profile and attitude level of consumers towards herbal tea consumption.

Figure 1 Conceptual framework of demographic factors and knowledge, attitude, and practice of herbal tea.

Study design

This survey's study design was a cross-sectional study to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards herbal tea consumption and their association with demographic profile among Malaysians. Cross-sectional study is an observational study that examines data from one population at one point in time. Generally, the cross-sectional study respondents were often chosen from the available population.²⁵ It is used since it is inexpensive and requires shorter time to collect data from a large population. Besides that, the data were collected only once without the respondents' need for follow-up.²⁶ For example, this survey used the total number of Malaysian populations in the country to identify public knowledge on herbal tea.

Sample size

Based on Department Statistic of Malaysia data, Malaysia had a total population of 32.7 million in 2020 and about 25.11 million are aged 15 years old and above.²⁷ Since this age range is suitable for drinking herbal tea, the sample size will be based on these populations. Besides that, only herbal tea drinkers were required to answer this questionnaire to determine their consumption practices. Based on calculation method by Krejcie & Morgan²⁸ a maximum of 384 respondents were needed for this research and p-value = 0.50 is recommended to estimate the population proportion. Therefore, at 95% confidence level, P = 0.5, (1−) ≈1. However, after a few filtering processes, only 168 respondents' data with complete and relevant answers were analyzed. Calculation was made using the following formula:

$s=\frac{X^{{}^2}\text{NP }\left(1-\text{ P}\right)}{d^2 \left(N-1\right)+X^{{}^2}P\left(1-P\right)}$  

s = required sample size.

X² = the table value of chi-square for 1 degree of freedom at the desired confidence level (3.841)

N = the population size.

P = the population proportion (assumed to be .50 since this will provide the maximum sample size) d

d = the degree of accuracy expressed as a proportion (.05)

Questionnaire design

Questionnaire is an appropriate way to collect large number of data and information from public respondent at a limited time and researchers commonly use questionnaire to gather information from the respondents.²⁹ This questionnaire was built to collect data from the respondent for survey-based research and was developed in dual language (Appendix 1). The self-administered online questionnaire was prepared in Bahasa Malaysia and English language in relevant to research objectives which access the awareness of public on herbal tea, consumption pattern and preparation, safety issue of herbal tea. Close ended question is prepared to ease the answer extracted from the respondent where they need to select the provided answers. Generally, the questions consist of five sections where the first section is a brief explanation about the survey structure, estimation time to answer the survey and confidentiality information of this survey to the respondents. Section A records respondent's demographic profile such as gender, age, occupation, household income, number of children, race and educational level. In Section B, we determine respondent's knowledge on herbal tea/botanic drinks. There are 20 general questions of herbal teas in this section. As an example, with optional answer of "yes", "no" or "not sure", respondents were asked about the definition of herbal tea and whether they know the differences between regular tea and herbal tea. One mark will be given for answer "yes" and zero otherwise. The list of questions in this section were adapted from Teh et al.¹⁴

Section C with a total of 15 questions were asked to investigate respondent's attitude towards herbal tea/ botanic drink consumption. Respondents need to give their opinion on the statement using the Likert Scale where, 1- Strongly disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Neutral, 4- Agree and 5- Strongly agree. Respondent may choose scale 3- Neutral as a response for uncertain opinion which indicates free answer without the need to agree or disagree. There is only one question in Section D which ask about the consumption of herbal tea by respondents. If yes, the Section E which consists of nine questions was prepared to determine their consumption practice of herbal tea/botanic drinks. Questions such as types of herbal drinks consumed, place to purchase and reason to drinks herbal tea were asked in this section.

Data collection

This study was conducted over a 5-months period of time among Malaysians. The questionnaire is randomly distributed using online platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook since it is the most efficient method, in addition to time and cost saving.³⁰ Besides that, it facilitates the transfer of data for analysis and protects against loss of response as is often experienced through physical paper distribution.

Validity and reliability

A pilot test with 30 respondents was conducted to check the validity and reliability of the survey questionnaire. Validity is used to determine whether the questionnaire covers all the actual topics of investigation for this research. Face validity shows the judgement of non-experts or test takers on their understandings on each of the questions given. It also evaluates the practicability, understandability and simplicity of language used.³¹ Since all the respondents had no issues with questionnaire, nothing has been changed. Reliability was measured using the data collected from the pilot test. Reliability was used to ensure all questions were measuring the same thing. Reliability test is important as it shows the consistency of measuring instrument. The data was analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) by IBM incorporated software.³² According to Bolarinwa,³³ reliability coefficient (alpha) will range from 0 to 1 with 0 shows a questionnaire that is not reliable while 1 shows a questionnaire that is very reliable and, value of 0.7 or higher is considered acceptable in SPSS. In this study, after analyzing the data from this questionnaire the reliability coefficient (alpha) score is 0.8, thus make the questionnaire reliable.

Data analysis

A total of 168 respondent's data were analyzed using descriptive statistic, Chi-square test, independent t-test and analysis of variances (ANOVA) were performed using SPSS version 25.0. This software is widely used to analyze data and focuses exclusively on variable-based statistical analysis. It is an integrated and systematic set of processes which is important to ensure the concluded analysis is valid and relevant to the research objectives.³⁴ Descriptive statistic was used to determine the frequency and percentage for the demographic profiles of the respondents and herbal tea consumer. In contrast, consumer's knowledge level and attitude on herbal tea was presented in mean and standard deviation. The comparison between demographic profile with knowledge and attitude were analyzed using t-test and one-way ANOVA. Chi-square was used to find the correlation between demographic profile and consumer's herbal tea consumption.

Socio-demographic profile of respondents

Data from a total of 168 respondents who responded to the online survey were analyzed. The response rate of this survey was 13.44%. Despite using several practices to raise the response rate, online surveys are often less likely to achieve response rates as high as surveys conducted using face to face question (on average: 33% vs 56%, 23% lower).³⁵ Among possible reason are the questionnaire is too lengthy, no reminder given to the respondent and lack of reward for answering the questionnaire . These reasons are supported by Saleh and Bista³⁶ whose recommended a gentle reminder to male participants to respond promptly to the survey and reward the older participant with a valid token of appreciation. The analysis conducted in this study was descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics consisted of t-test, one-way ANOVA, Chi-square, and Pearson correlation. The demographic profile of respondents participated in the survey is shown in Table 1. All of 168 respondents are herbal tea consumers which consist of 62 male (36.9%) and 106 females (63.1%). It is reported that female is more willing to participate in an online survey than men. Majority of the respondents were Malay with 156 respondents (92.9%), followed by Indian 5 respondents (3.0%), Chinese 4 respondents (2.4%), and 3 respondents (1.8%) from other races such as Bidayuh, Melanau and Dusun. The Department of Statistics reported in 2019; the Malaysian population was dominated by Bumiputra (69.3%), followed by Chinese (22.8%) and Indian (6.9%). Ethnics such a Bidayuh, Melanau and Dusun are considered as a Bumiputra.

For the age range distributions, 90 respondents (53.6%) were 18-26 years old, 10 respondents (6.0%) were 27-35 years old, 16 respondents (9.5%) were 36-45 years old and 52 respondents (31.0%) were 46 years old and above. Majority of the respondents are young people who are engaged well with distribution channels such as WhatsApp and social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) that were used to distribute the questionnaire survey. Based on Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), in 2018, total active social media user in Malaysia is 25 million. 30% of it are the user from the age range of 20-29-years old and 25.9% are user from the age range 30-39 years old. 43.5% of the respondents are student (73 respondents) followed by government workers with 61 respondents (36.3%). Park et al.³⁷ reported that 97% of college students used the internet and generally technology-skilled, that implies the online technology and environment are familiar to them. While findings by Saleh and Bista³⁶ found that, students may be interested in taking part in online survey as they may consider using the online survey methodology in their research paper or thesis. The result showed that 75 respondents (44.6%) have household income more than RM5000 either from working respondents, spouse or family income. A total of 95 respondents (56.5%) were single, and 73 respondents (43.5%) were married. Lastly, 114 respondents (67.9%) studied until bachelor's degree, 13 respondents (7.7%) until secondary school, 19 respondents (11.3%) until Certificate/Diploma, 18 respondents (10.7%) until master's degree and 4 respondents (2.4%) until Doctor of Philosophy level.

Respondent's knowledge and attitude toward herbal tea

There is a total of 20 questions to determine the knowledge level of the respondents toward herbal tea. We categorized the knowledge level based on the correct score of the questions: low (0 - 6), moderate (7 - 13) and strong (14 - 20). The attitude towards herbal tea consumption was also categorized into three-level based on the score: low (15-35), moderate (36-55) and high (56-75).³⁸ Table 2 shows the total knowledge level of the respondents about herbal tea with majority of 122 respondents (72.6%) have a moderate level of knowledge about herbal tea. The mass and social media promotion and advertisement promoting herbal beverages helps in disseminate the information about a certain herbal tea and its benefits to the public.³⁹ Based on the items shown in Table 3 majority consumers know the definitions and fundamental characteristic of herbal tea. They also know common types of herbal tea mentioned in the item and aware that herbal tea contains antioxidant beneficial to health. However, most consumers did not know that herbal tea is originated from Camellia sinensis and at the same time they believed that green tea as part of herbal tea.

Table 4 shows that 78 respondents (46.4%) have moderate attitude level and 75 respondents (44.6%) have high attitude level toward herbal tea. The mean scores of respondents' overall knowledge and attitude level based on this study were 11.12±3.03, and 55.92±6.50, respectively. This result shows that respondents have moderate knowledge and moderate to high attitude toward herbal tea. It may be due to several types of herbal tea available on the market, and each of them is claimed to have a particular therapeutic or medicinal benefit to health. However, there is little empirical evidence for consumers of that argument. Typically, respondents had very positive views on herbal medicines; most had greater faith in herbals, believed they had a place in modern medicine, more reliable and saw no problems in taking them simultaneously with Western medicine.⁴⁰ Based on the items in Table 5 it shows that consumers have positive attitudes toward herbal tea and health benefits. For example, consumers either strongly agree or agree that herbal tea is safe since it is from natural ingredients. Apart from that, consumers also agree and strongly agree that herbal tea are low in calories, helps in losing body weight, helps in removing toxin from body and increase body's metabolism rate. In contrast from that, they disagree that herbal tea can lead to kidney damage. The knowledge and attitude have a moderate positive relationship with value 0.051, as shown in Table 6 with no a significant difference. Jibril et al.²³ claimed that studies concerning consumer education had shown a positive association with consumer attitude.

Comparison of respondent's knowledge level among demographic profiles

Independent t-test was used to compare respondent's knowledge level between gender and marital status. In contrast, one-way ANOVA was used to compare respondent's knowledge level between age, ethnic, occupation, household income, number of children and education level. Table 7 shows the comparison of respondents' knowledge level about herbal tea between demographic profiles. The result shows a significant difference (p<0.05) between knowledge and highest educational level while other demographic profiles show no significant difference. Respondents with higher educational level has higher knowledge level. This statement supported by Sani et al. that conducted a survey Influence of Educational Level on Knowledge and Practice of Breast Self-examination (BSE) Among Women in Sokoto, Nigeria.⁴¹ This survey indicated that a big correlation between the level of education and BSE expertise and practice. Women with a higher level of education have more BSE experience, improved results and are more likely to regularly practice BSE. This contrast with Kim Sooi and Lean Keng⁴² study who stated that a significant difference was found between the information score and income (p< 0.05) and no significant difference between other demographic profiles such as age, occupation and education.⁴²

Comparison of respondent's attitude with demographic profiles

The comparison between the respondent's attitude level and demographic profile used independent t-test and one-way ANOVA. Independent t-test were used for gender and marital status while ANOVA was used for age, ethnic, occupation, household income, number of children and education level. As shown in Table 8, comparison between attitude level and age, occupation, ethnic and highest educational level with significant difference (p<0.05) at 0.043, 0.003, 0.023 and 0.020 accordingly. Table 9 shows the post hoc test that determines a specific group with significant difference. Teh et al.¹⁴ reported a significant difference (p<0.05) between age and consumer attitude toward Chinese herbal tea and no significant difference between attitudes and other demographic profiles which refers to consumers various education and employment status levels do not influence customer attitudes towards Chinese herbal tea.

Generally, this study shows that consumers with age range 27-35 years old shows highest attitude level toward herbal tea compared with other age group. This may due to respondents in this age groups were more aware and concerned about their health, Then, post hoc test shows that, there is 0.024 significance difference between private sector employee and students while 0.001 significance difference between private sector employee and government workers. Respondent's attitude level was affected by the respondent's occupation as they might encounter different working environment that could affect their attitude toward herbal tea. Next, post hoc test between attitude level and respondent's ethnic shows that, there is 0.019 significance difference between Malay and Chinese group. Different ethnic groups might have different culture and habits on herbal tea thus lead to different attitude level. Herbal tea was usually consumed by Chinese and the knowledge was passed down from generation to generations, thus non-Chinese had lower chances to expose to the herbal tea. Lastly, there is a significant difference (p<0.05) between attitude level and respondent's highest education level. Post hoc test shows that, there is 0.019 significance difference between Certificate/Diploma and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) while 0.03 significance difference between master's degree and Doctor of Philosophy. Respondents with PhD have the lowest attitude level toward herbal tea than respondents with other education level.

Consumers' herbal tea consumption practices

Different consumers have different practices for herbal tea consumption. Table 10 shows the result in consumer practices toward herbal tea. Firstly, 94 consumers (56%) consumed a type of herbs only (example: only mas cotek), 60 consumers (35.7%) consumed two or more types of herbal tea (example: mixture of misai kucing, mas cotek and stevia) and 14 consumers (8.3%) consumed other types of herbal tea which are not stated. A study by Nworu et al.⁴³ found that, 11.9% of participants used one type of herbal medicine such as ginseng, followed by 5.7% participants used two different types of herbal medicine, 2% used three different types of herbal medicine and 5.7% participants used more than three different types of herbal medicine, like Ayurveda treatment that use various type of herbs. Most participants (74.6%) did not use any type of herbal medicine. The result showed that most herbal tea consumers (120 consumers, i.e. 71.4%) used tea bags instead of other herbal tea forms. Considering the form of raw material used for preparation of the infusion, participants prefer bags (77.7%) than loose-leaf (22.3%).^15,44 Claimed that, although lower volume of green tea was used in bags, they are finely chopped so that they have a greater surface area and could be more effective in releasing flavor constituents than green teas in the leaf form. Green teas in tea bags had similar flavor profile and intensities to leaf form.

For preparation method, 86 consumers (51.2%) follow the instruction on the packaging, 39 consumers (23.2%) soaks in boiling water while 36 consumers (21.4%) soaks in warm water. Another 7 consumers (4.2%) follow the instruction given by seller. None of the consumers prepares the herbal tea by soaking it in room temperature water. Most of the herbal tea packaging has a straightforward preparation instruction to be followed by the consumer. A total of 55 consumers (32.7%) takes herbal tea as daily practices, either drinking it once or twice per day. According to Rocha et al., out of 489 respondents, only 27.2% of respondents drink herbal infusions once or more a day. Besides, only 29.7% of respondents reported drinking tea once or more times a day, with most of that drinking tea only once a day. Every week, respondents regularly consume herbal infusions. As herbal tea is known for its beneficial effect on health, more than half of the consumers consume herbal tea to improve health status (97 consumers, 57.7%). Other than that, 30 consumers (17.9%) consumed herbal tea for losing weight and only 1 consumer (0.6%) drink herbal tea for cosmetic purposes. The most common reason in taking herbal products and dietary supplements mentioned by survey respondents were to improve overall well-being, help control arthritis, help avoid or manage colds, or improve memory.⁴⁵ In this modern era, the internet is known as a perfect medium to gain knowledge with 90 consumers (53.6%) choose internet as the source of knowledge about herbal tea followed by 39 consumers (23.2%) gains the knowledge from literature and 20 consumers (11.9%) obtained the knowledge from family. The internet makes it much easier for individuals to search for health information themselves and become more vulnerable to a broader health information range. Even in 1997, 41% of US Internet users went online to access healthcare information.⁴⁶ Survey by Alexieva et al.⁴⁷ also shows that as a credible source of knowledge. 66% of respondents used the internet, while 60% sought information from friends and family members, approximately 29% looked for information in books and 51% in newspapers and magazines. On the other hand, the most preferred place for consumer to purchase herbal tea are hypermarket/mini market, trusted agent/stockist and pharmacy with 64 (38.1%), 30 (17.9%) and 28 (16.7%) respectively. The huge number of hypermarket/mini markets make it accessible for buying products.⁴⁴ Al-Arifi⁴⁸ found that the main reasons for consumer to select from a specific outlet is because they had an experienced herbal practitioner present (42%) and had a wide variety of herbal remedies (41%). Closeness to home (22%) and proximity to other shops were other variables that influenced their choices (18%). Consumers choose several factors that influence them in choosing herbal tea and quality is chosen as the highest factor with 133 consumers (36.7%).

Apart from that, price (70), taste (63) and brand (56) are highly chosen as factors that influence the selection of different type of herbal tea products. These results were tally with De Godoy et al.⁴⁹ where quality is chosen as the first followed by brand and lastly price by 100 consumers. Quality, and prices maintain as the main factors influencing the purchase decision although in different types of products. As an example, product quality and price have an essential effect on Japanese electronic brand goods' purchasing decision. The customers would consider the quality of the product and price in making purchase decisions, in which case consumers believe that Japanese electronic brands have good quality that has high durability and reasonable price.⁵⁰ From the total of 168 consumers, 74 (39.78%) of them experience side effects from drinking herbal tea. Frequent farting, stomachache and dizziness were the most frequent side effect occurred to the consumers. Tsai et al.⁵¹ claimed that, although many herbal consumers believe that herbs are healthy, it has been documented that herbal products are associated with mild to serious adverse effects such as heart attacks, chest pain, abdominal pain, and headache. Overall, in this study, consumers prefer to consume one type of herbs and use tea bag as it is more convenience. Almost half of consumers experience side effects but still consume herbal tea at least once per week. Consumers believe that herbal tea will help to improve health status and they consider internet as main medium to find information about herbal tea.

Association of consumers' consumption practices and demographic profiles

The relationship between the respondent's demographic profile and herbal tea consumption was analyzed using Chi-square and probability value was recorded to determine the significant relationship. Table 11 shows the association between consumers' practices of herbal tea and demographic profile. Based on the results, there is a significant association (p<0.05) between gender (p=0.011) and marital status (p=0.047) of respondents with types of herbal tea consumed. Female consumers highly prefer herbal drinks with one type of herbs only compared to male consumers who prefer to drink herbal drinks with two or more herbs. Then, both single and married consumers prefer herbal drinks with one type of herbs only. Association between age, household income, marital status, and number of children with forms of herbal consumed have a significant association (p<0.05) with 0.001, 0.039, 0.025 and 0.036. Married people (107 respondents) drank much tea than single individual (87 respondents) as reported by Teh et al.¹⁴ Respondents of different age who are administrative personnel, retirees and common workers were loyal tea consumers, while students and soldiers seldom drank tea. These people are from a different generation but similarly, enjoy their cup of tea. Vieux et al. found that tea and herbal tea consumption increased with age, as did coffee.⁴⁴ One in four adults aged over 50 years consumed tea but fewer than 1 in 10 children or adolescents. Kim Sooi and Lean Keng⁴² also reported that it had been found that the association between age and household income with herbal usage is essential (p < 0.05).

In this study, mainly places to buy herbal tea are highly associated with demographic profiles as five from eight demographic social stated give p-value lower than 0.05. People age 18-26 years old prefer to buy herbal tea products from supermarket/minimarket as while people age 46 years old and above prefer to buy from stockist/trusted agent. Next, there is a significant association (p<0.05) between respondents' age, occupation, and marital status with method of preparation. People with age range 18-26 years old and 46 years and above directly follow the instruction on packaging to prepare herbal tea and they did not follow the seller's instruction. Besides that, the different demographic profile also influences the forms of herbal consumed as many have a significant association.

Most respondents have a moderate level of knowledge and answered 7-13 out of 20 herbal related questions correctly. This shows that, the respondents are knowledgeable and understand on herbal tea used in daily life. It is very important for them to know how to select the proper plants where a few herbs are hard to identify due to similar morphological characteristics. In this study, respondents have a moderate to high attitude level toward herbal tea. It shows that respondents consume herbal tea because they believed that herbal tea is safe and give various health benefits. Hence, consumers with higher educational level generally have higher knowledge level on herbal tea with a significant different (p< 0.05). Attitude level shows a significant different (p<0.05) with age, occupation, ethnic and highest educational level. In addition, there is significant association (p<0.05) between age, household income and number of children of respondents with form of herbal consumed. There is also a significant association (p<0.05) between gender and marital status of respondents with types of herbal tea consumed. Diverse consumption practice shows various significance difference between the demographic profile. Significance difference shows that, there is a measurable different between the two associated group.

Authors wish to thank Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Sureco Sure Return (M) Sdn. Bhd.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

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