The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 letter word CHINA TEA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
C
H
I
N
A
T
E
A
More clues leading to the result CHINA TEA
- A teach-in switching parts leaves much to be desired?
- Drink ruined a nice hat
- Leaves half a portion of toast, having consumed one
- Leaves prepared for refreshing cha-cha, buckling in?
- Feature polished off, followed by a drink
- Mate, ahead of meal, makes a drink
- What may be served in porcelain at meal-time
- A teach-in breaks up for refreshment
- Asian produce supply chain on the way regularly interrupted
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "leaves much to be desired" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case leaves much to be desired = china tea.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.