Objective Status, context, and trend of tea polysaccharide research in China were analyzed using the bibliometric method.

Method Publications on the studies related to tea polysaccharides (Chinese, published from 1993 to 2025; English, published from 1972 to 2025) were reviewed and extracted from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science (WOS) as the core collection for the analysis. CiteSpace 6.4.R1, VOSviewer, Bibliometrix, and MATLAB were employed to dissect the collected bibliographic data on periodical publications, authors, affiliated institutions, collaborated national networks, applied keywords, and evolving themes.

Result The number of related publications steadily increased in the past. Universities and research institutions were the major sources that generated high activities and international citations. For instance, Hubei University of Technology, Shanghai Normal University, Anhui Agricultural University, Nanjing Agricultural University, Zhejiang University, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences were known for their continued studies in the areas of extraction, purification, structural characterization, physicochemical property analysis, and bioactivity evaluation of tea polysaccharides. As technology rapidly advances, newly available analytical tools usher in subject changes in research as well. The focused studies have evolved from ingredient extraction and preparation to the more sophisticated and fundamental pursuance. Subjects such as molecular interactions of tea polysaccharides with other chemicals, cellular and animal functional mechanisms, and health implications of gut microbiota could likely become the choice for further studies in the future.

Conclusion The statistics of the publications on tea polysaccharide studies in China clearly showed a shift of research aiming at the functional ingredient preparation and activity verification toward the structure-activity relationship and health-related issues associated with polysaccharides. Hence, predication model development, integrated multi-omics, innovative food supplements, new medical applications, and the likes would become the emerging targets for research, and high value-added functional products be brought to the market beyond beverage to broaden the utilization of tea.