Abstract: To realize the comprehensive utilization of tea waste, contents of the main components and metal ions in tea raw materials and tea waste from different kinds of instant tea were analyzed. The physicochemical indexes showed that the contents of crude protein and fiber in tea waste increased by 25.77%~38.56% and 32.57%~58.54% respectively compared with the raw materials of tea, but the contents of crude fat and total ash decreased by 61.55%~70.79% and 47.72%~56.72%, respectively. The quality indexes indicated that comparing with the tea raw materials, the contents of tea polyphenols, caffeine, and theanine decreased by 58.34%~67.93%, 46.95%~61.05% and 49.33%~58.09%, respectively. Furthermore, analysis of metal ion content showed that comparing with the tea raw materials, contents of Pb, Cu, As, and Cd decreased in tea waste, however, the differences were not significantly. In conclusion, tea waste still had a lot of beneficial ingredients, especially crude protein and fiber, but there were also heavy metal residues. The study provides a preliminary foundation for the comprehensive utilization of tea waste.