Say there's a short way to brew tea (5)
I believe the answer is:
state
'say' is the definition.
('state' can be a synonym of 'say')
'a short way to brew tea' is the wordplay.
'a short' means to remove the last letter.
'way' becomes 's' (Compass direction - South).
'brew' indicates anagramming the letters.
's'+'to'='sto'
'sto' with its final letter taken off is 'st'.
'tea' with letters rearranged gives 'ate'.
'st'+'ate'='STATE'
'there's' is the link.
(Other definitions for state that I've seen before include "E.g. Georgia" , "A test (anag.)" , "eg Rhode Island" , "Declare - political unit" , "Part of America" .)