The invention discloses a tea polyphenol composite coating preservative and a preparation method thereof. The composite coating preservative is prepared from the following raw materials according to mass concentration: 2.5-5.5% of collagen, 0.5-3.5% of glycerol, 0.5-4.5% of gelatin, 0.1-1% of tea polyphenol, and deionized water. According to the preparation method, tea polyphenol, collagen, gelatin, and glycerol are used as main raw materials to prepare the composite coating preservative, and then the preservative is spread on hawthorn fruits. After 20 day's storage at room temperature, researchers research changes of hardness, vitamin C, sensory quality, weight loss rate and other indexes of hawthorn fruits, so as to evaluate the preservation effect of the composite coating preservative on hawthorn fruits. The hawthorn fruit treated by the coating preservative changes more slowly in weight loss rate, sensory quality, hardness and vitamin C than the hawthorn fruit not spread with the coating preservative. The preservative effectively prolongs the shelf life of the hawthorn fruits. The coating preservative with best preservation effect is prepared from the following raw materials: 4.0% of collagen, 3.0% of gelatin, 0.2% of tea polyphenol, and 1.0% of glycerol.