Very hot drink picked up -- I cry out, almost (8)
I believe the answer is:
tropical
'very hot' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'drink picked up i cry out almost' is the wordplay.
'drink' becomes 'port' (I've seen this before**).
'picked up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'cry out' becomes 'call'.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'port' written backwards gives 'trop'.
'call' with its last letter removed is 'cal'.
'trop'+'i'+'cal'='TROPICAL'
(Other definitions for tropical that I've seen before include "Of regions north and south of the Equator" , "Boiling" , "Relating to very warm areas" , "Describes weather that is hot and humid" , "extremely warm" .)