BACKGROUND In this study, ultrasonic‐assisted reverse micelles were used to extract tea protein from tea residues. First, the extraction conditions of ultrasonic power, ionic strength and pH were optimized by response surface methodology. Then, structural comparison of ultrasonic‐assisted reverse micelle extraction of tea protein (UARME) and ultrasonic‐assisted alkali extraction (UAAE) were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and amino acid composition. RESULTS The optimum process conditions were determined as follows: ultrasonic power 300 W, KCl 0.15 mol L−1, pH 8. The extraction rate was 46.29%, which was close to the theoretical value (46.44%). SEM showed that the protein particles extracted by UARME were smaller than those by UAAE. The results of FTIR spectroscopy showed that the protein extracted by UARME had higher α‐helix, β‐sheet and β‐turn, and the contents were 20%, 62.3% and 17.1%, respectively. The content of random coil was 0%, which was significantly lower than that of alkali extraction, indicating that the secondary structure of protein extracted by UARME was more orderly. By comparing the amino acid composition of the two methods, the amino acid content of tea protein extracted by UARME was significantly higher than that of UAAE. CONCLUSION The biological activity of tea protein is closely related to its structure. Compared with alkali extraction, reverse micelles can better protect the secondary structure of proteins, which is of great significance for studying their functional properties. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.