Polyphenol oxidase was purified from an extract of tea leaf by ammonium sulfate fractionation followed by Sephadex G-150 column chromatography, which resulted in a 67-fold increase in specific activity. The enzyme had optimum pH 6.5 and was relatively heat stable. The substrate specificity of the tea leaf PPO showed high affinity toward pyrogallol and catechol. Potassium cyanide, sodium diethyldithiocarbamate, L-cysteine, 2-mercaptoethanol and ascorbic acid were potent inhibitors.