diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/CriteriaQueryProcessor.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/CriteriaQueryProcessor.java
index ece8d59ff..739344855 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/CriteriaQueryProcessor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/CriteriaQueryProcessor.java
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ class CriteriaQueryProcessor {
 
 		switch (key) {
 			case EQUALS:
-				query = queryString(searchText).field(fieldName);
+				query = queryString(searchText).field(fieldName).defaultOperator(QueryStringQueryBuilder.Operator.AND);
 				break;
 			case CONTAINS:
 				query = queryString("*" + searchText + "*").field(fieldName).analyzeWildcard(true);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/query/CriteriaQueryTests.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/query/CriteriaQueryTests.java
index 68ba19832..f725021fd 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/query/CriteriaQueryTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/core/query/CriteriaQueryTests.java
@@ -223,12 +223,12 @@ public class CriteriaQueryTests {
 
 		elasticsearchTemplate.bulkIndex(indexQueries);
 		elasticsearchTemplate.refresh(SampleEntity.class, true);
-		CriteriaQuery criteriaQuery = new CriteriaQuery(new Criteria("message").is("some message").is("test message"));
+		CriteriaQuery criteriaQuery = new CriteriaQuery(new Criteria("message").is("some message"));
 		// when
 		Page<SampleEntity> page = elasticsearchTemplate.queryForPage(criteriaQuery, SampleEntity.class);
 		// then
 		assertThat("message", is(criteriaQuery.getCriteria().getField().getName()));
-		assertThat(page.getTotalElements(), is(greaterThanOrEqualTo(2L)));
+		assertThat(page.getTotalElements(), is(equalTo(1L)));
 	}
 
 	@Test