Abstract: As one of unique Chinese tea, dark tea's material composition is different from other tea due to its pile fermentation.Theabrownine, a class of complicated water-soluble brown pigment by tea-polyphenol oxidative polymerization in dark tea process, which is a vital substance for dark tea quality, and possess a certain physiological regulation function to the human body.This paper mainly reviews the formation ways, preparation methods, and structural characteristics of theabrownin. In addition, the application in therapy hyperlipidemia and adiposity, hyperglycemic effect, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and other physiological activities were also reviewed. In order to provide reference for further research and product development, the key problems of the research were prospected.