Drink of character, we hear (3)
I believe the answer is:
tea
'drink' is the definition.
(tea is a drink)
'character we hear' is the wordplay.
'character' becomes 'T'.
'we hear' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
't' is a homophone of 'TEA'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tea that I've seen before include "Early evening meal" , "Tisane" , "Cuppa" , "Strangely, ate this drink" , "Beverage; meal" .)