A lot of tea bags are for Spanish maid (8)

'are for spanish maid' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'a lot of tea' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'lot' could be 'm' and 'm' is present in the answer.
'tea' could be 'cha' (cha is a type of tea) and 'cha' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'bags' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?