Regularly picking the bay leaves (3)
I believe the answer is:
tea
'leaves' is the definition.
(as in tea leaves)
'regularly picking the bay' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ea' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tea that I've seen before include "Infused beverage" , "Popular beverage brewed at home" , "Refresher course" , "Tisane" , "Afternoon meal; drink" .)