Given how unimpressed I've been with most of Whittard's offerings so far, this was a pleasant surprise. English Breakfast is their advertised "No. 01" mainstay tea since the Victorian era, at least in loose-leaf form, so presumably the bagged version shouldn't be terribly different.

Though not very strong, the dry-bag aroma actually exists (their other teas I've reviewed would betray that statement). Moreover, it smells like a good-quality dry tea. The in-cup aroma and flavor each have a distinctive, malty quality as advertised—quite reminiscent of an Assam (probably my favorite kind of straight black tea), even though this tea's stated origin is West Java. The overall strength of the tea is not quite that of a good, robust Assam, but I was impressed that it makes a reasonable facsimile, and it brews up really dark in the cup. It does turn rather bitter if allowed to cool, but when still hot to fairly warm, has an uncommonly savory richness to it. As far as I know, this is the first Indonesian tea I've had, and it makes me want to try more, despite being a finely-chopped blend in mass-produced tea bags.

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