Drink something salty, briefly (3)
I believe the answer is:
tea
'drink' is the definition.
(tea is a drink)
'something salty briefly' is the wordplay.
'something salty' becomes 'tear' (tears are salty).
'briefly' means to remove the last letter.
'tear' with its final letter removed is 'TEA'.
(Other definitions for tea that I've seen before include "Assam or Darjeeling, for example" , "The cup that cheers but not inebriates" , "For Japanese ceremony" , "Darjeeling, e.g." , "Afternoon meal (3)" .)