Certain to pour tea into – it’s only to be expected (2,9)
I believe the answer is:
in character
'to be expected' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'certain to pour tea into it's only' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'tea' could be 't' (I've seen this in other clues) and 't' is located in the answer.
'into' could be 'in' and 'in' is present in the answer.
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for in character that I've seen before include "True to type" , "Typical" , "Dressed for the part" , "Appropriate for the part" .)