A spectrophotometric method for the determination of tea polyphenols in milk tea powder was developed by using Folin-phenol reagent. Crucial operating parameters such as extraction reagent, number of extraction cycles, temperature and derivatization reagent were investigated. Extraction using 70% methanol solution as the extraction reagent in a hot water bath at 70 ℃ performed twice and oxidization of the resulting extract with Folin-phenol reagent proved optimal. The detection wavelength was selected as 765 nm, and gallic acid was used as the calibration standard for the quantitation of tea polyphenols. The recoveries for whole milk powder spiked at concentration levels of 850–4 500 mg/kg were in the range of 98.9%–104.9%. Good stability and accuracy were achieved. When milk tea powder samples with different contents of tea polyphenols were detected in six replicates, relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.29%–0.84% were obtained, indicating good precision. This method proved to be accurate, easy to operate and repeatable with simple and easily available instruments, and thus suitable for the analysis of tea polyphenols in milk tea powder.