Starts off at seven in the morning, after small tea (5)
I believe the answer is:
assam
'tea' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'starts off at seven in the morning after small' is the wordplay.
'starts off' says to take the initial letters.
'in the morning' becomes 'am'.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
The first letters of 'at seven' is 'as'.
'am' after 's' is 'sam'.
'as'+'sam'='ASSAM'
(Other definitions for assam that I've seen before include "An Indian part" , "region out east" , "Indian tea region" , "Indian state famous for tea" , "Tea-growing state in north-east India" .)