A low-cost and highly efficient biosorbent was prepared by loading zirconium(IV) onto ball-milled, ultra-fine tea powder (UTP-Zr) for removal of fluoride from drinking water. To evaluate the fluoride adsorption capacity of UTP-Zr over a wide range of conditions, the biosorbent dosage, contact time, initial pH, initial fluoride concentration and presence of other ions were varied. UTP-Zr performed well over the considerably wide pH range of 3-10. The residual concentration of Zr in the treated water was below the limit of detection (0.01 mg/L). Fluoride adsorption by the UTP-Zr biosorbent followed the Langmuir model, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 12.43 mgF/g at room temperature. The fluoride adsorption kinetics fit the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The synthesized biosorbent was characterized by BET, SEM, EDS, XRD and XPS to reveal how UTP-Zr interacts with fluoride. Results from this study demonstrated that UTP-based biosorbents will be useful and safe for the removal of fluoride from drinking water. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.