Invention patent is one of imporant indicators to evaluate the level of technological innovation in an industry. In this paper, the author analyzed the information of 2 228 tea invention patents which were applied and published in China from the year of 2006 to 2010. Results showed that 1) the application amount of tea invention patents increased by 23.3% per year, but their license amount and license rate was low. 2) 76.7% of tea invention patents were applied by enterprises and individuals. 3) Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Yunnan were the top three provinces on the application amount of tea invention patents in whole China. 4) 82.2% of tea invention patents were concentrated on such professional areas as tea processing and maufacture and comprehensive utilzation, which indicated the research hotspots of tea techonological innovation. Based on this study, the author reviewed of the questiones and challenges for tea technological innvovation, and proposed a few of advices to impove the level of technogical innovation for Chinese tea industry.