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Drink using mint tea-strainer, emptying out French water (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cointreau

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'drink' is the definition.
(type of liqueur)

'mint tea-strainer emptying out french water' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'mint' could be 'coin' (synonyms) and 'coin' is located in the answer.
'tea' could be 't' (I've seen this in other clues) and 't' is located in the answer.
'water' could be 'eau' (I have seen 'French water ' mean 'eau' so perhaps 'water' could also mean 'eau') and 'eau' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'r' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'using' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cointreau that I've seen before include "Alcoholic drink" , "Sweet orange-flavoured colourless liqueur" , "Orange liqueur" , "A sweet orange-flavoured liqueur for cautioner" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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