Abstract: According to extraction ability, 95% alcohol was tchose from several solvents as the extraction solvent of saponin from tea seed meal. Effects of four factors on the tea saponin yield were investigated, which are soaking time, soaking temperature, ratio of liquid to solid and particle size of tea seed meal. The results showed that the optimum technological conditions are as follows: soaking temperature 60 ℃, the soaking time 2 hours, ratio of liquid to solid 13:1 and ground particle size 40 meshes.Under the conditions, the tea saponin yield is 8.85%, and its purity in crude product is 54.2%.

Key words: tea seed meal, tea saponin, extraction technology, alcohol