Certifications, function, and colour drive herbal tea choices: an online survey using rating-based conjoint analysis in Italy and Denmark

Herbal teas are growing in popularity, yet consumer preferences for herbal teas options and cross-country differences in quality perception remain under-explored. This study quantified the relative importance of key food-quality cues and extrinsic attributes at the point of choice and compared preference structures between Italy and Denmark. An online survey was completed by adult consumers of herbal tea in Italy (n = 449) and Denmark (n = 478). Preferences were estimated using a rating-based conjoint analysis with an orthogonal design (12 profiles) varying: functional claims (energising, relaxing, expectorant, draining), certification (organic, Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, none), price (€3.50/€4.50/€5.50; 26.11/33.56/41.02 DKK), mode of use (single-use herbal tea bags vs loose-leaf herbal tea), and packaging colour (green, orange, dark blue, light blue). In the pooled sample, attribute importance was certification 26.1%, functional claims 25.0%, packaging colour 22.6%, price 17.7%, and mode of use 8.6%. Organic certification and green/orange packaging increased preference, whereas light blue packaging was penalised; price utilities decreased monotonically from €3.50 to €5.50. Italy assigned greater weight to functional claims than Denmark (26.7% vs 23.3%), while Denmark was more price-sensitive (19.6% vs 15.8%). Italians also reported stronger motivations linked to perceived benefits (relaxing, digestive, detoxifying, draining; all p < .001). Overall, herbal tea preferences were primarily shaped by credence-based quality cues, benefit expectations, and visual signals, with meaningful country-specific differences in the salience of benefit-related claims and price.