Tea served by a southern man or woman (5)
I believe the answer is:
assam
'tea' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'by a southern man or woman' is the wordplay.
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'man or woman' becomes 'sam' (unisex name).
'a'+'s' is 'as'.
'as'+'sam'='ASSAM'
'served' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for assam that I've seen before include "Indian tea growing area" , "Indian state known for its tea production" , "I'll provide lots of tea" , "North-east Indian tea state" , "Indian tea-producing region" .)