Coffee cup taken back in the end (9)
I believe the answer is:
demitasse
'coffee cup' is the definition.
(demitasse is a kind of coffee cup)
'taken back in the end' is the wordplay.
'taken' becomes 'sat' (sit can mean to take an exam).
'back' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'in the' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'end' becomes 'demise' (demise is a kind of end).
'sat' backwards is 'tas'.
'tas' placed inside 'demise' is 'DEMITASSE'.
(Other definitions for demitasse that I've seen before include "little cup" , "Coffee-cup" , "Small cup for black coffee" .)