Burn the tea, we’re told (4)
I believe the answer is:
char
'burn' is the definition.
(charring is a kind of burning)
'tea we're told' is the wordplay.
'tea' becomes 'cha' (cha is a type of tea).
'we're told' becomes 'r' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'cha'+'r'='CHAR'
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for char that I've seen before include "Become black by burning" , "Person who cleans" , "Partly burn - cleaning woman" , "Fish < tea" , "Blacken by burning" .)