Aiming at the problems of uneven tea frying, high tea crushing rate and poor quality of tea after frying, an automatic tea frying machine was designed. According to the theoretical calculation, the structural parameters of the key components of the drying device were determined, and prototype production was carried out on this basis. In order to further explore the optimal working parameters of the automatic tea frying machine, taking the number of turning bars, the movement speed, separation ratio and tea temperature rise rate of tea in the frying device as indicators, the influence of various working parameters on the frying effect of the frying machine was analyzed by the discrete element simulation software EDEM. Regression analysis and response surface analysis were carried out by using design expert software, and validation tests were carried out. The best parameter combination of frying performance was established as follows: drum speed was 19 r·min^-1, frying temperature was 184 ℃, frying time was 80 min, average moisture content was 5.47% and broken tea rate was 1.82%. The design meets the requirements of tea processing technology, and provides a technical reference for the popularization and application of tea frying machine.