The time cocoa’s in preparation (8)
I believe the answer is:
occasion
'the time' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cocoa's in preparation' is the wordplay.
'preparation' indicates anagramming the letters.
'cocoas'+'in'='cocoasin'
'cocoasin' anagrammed gives 'OCCASION'.
(Other definitions for occasion that I've seen before include "incident" , "Time of (maybe special) event" , "A special event, or the time it happens" , "Social event or occurrence" , "Cocoa's in (anag.)" .)