diff --git a/client/rest/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestClient.java b/client/rest/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestClient.java
index 56baa35598f..6b4e7f554fb 100644
--- a/client/rest/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestClient.java
+++ b/client/rest/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestClient.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ package org.elasticsearch.client;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
-import org.apache.http.Consts;
 import org.apache.http.Header;
 import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
 import org.apache.http.HttpHost;
@@ -37,7 +36,6 @@ import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpRequestBase;
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpTrace;
 import org.apache.http.client.utils.URIBuilder;
 import org.apache.http.concurrent.FutureCallback;
-import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
 import org.apache.http.impl.nio.client.CloseableHttpAsyncClient;
 import org.apache.http.nio.client.methods.HttpAsyncMethods;
 import org.apache.http.nio.protocol.HttpAsyncRequestProducer;
@@ -79,7 +77,6 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 public final class RestClient implements Closeable {
 
     private static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(RestClient.class);
-    public static ContentType JSON_CONTENT_TYPE = ContentType.create("application/json", Consts.UTF_8);
 
     private final CloseableHttpAsyncClient client;
     //we don't rely on default headers supported by HttpAsyncClient as those cannot be replaced
diff --git a/qa/smoke-test-http/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/DeprecationHttpIT.java b/qa/smoke-test-http/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/DeprecationHttpIT.java
index 4455eaab258..40c757a3b1f 100644
--- a/qa/smoke-test-http/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/DeprecationHttpIT.java
+++ b/qa/smoke-test-http/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/DeprecationHttpIT.java
@@ -20,16 +20,15 @@ package org.elasticsearch.http;
 
 import org.apache.http.Header;
 import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
+import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
 import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Response;
-import org.elasticsearch.client.RestClient;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.LoggerMessageFormat;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.json.JsonXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
-
 import org.hamcrest.Matcher;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -103,7 +102,7 @@ public class DeprecationHttpIT extends HttpSmokeTestCase {
 
         // trigger all index deprecations
         Response response = getRestClient().performRequest("GET", "/" + commaSeparatedIndices + "/_search",
-                Collections.emptyMap(), new StringEntity(body, RestClient.JSON_CONTENT_TYPE));
+                Collections.emptyMap(), new StringEntity(body, ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON));
         assertThat(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode(), equalTo(OK.getStatus()));
 
         final List<String> deprecatedWarnings = getWarningHeaders(response.getHeaders());
@@ -201,7 +200,7 @@ public class DeprecationHttpIT extends HttpSmokeTestCase {
 
         builder.endArray().endObject();
 
-        return new StringEntity(builder.string(), RestClient.JSON_CONTENT_TYPE);
+        return new StringEntity(builder.string(), ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON);
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/qa/smoke-test-http/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpCompressionIT.java b/qa/smoke-test-http/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpCompressionIT.java
index ca637a78555..a6d9f833d22 100644
--- a/qa/smoke-test-http/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpCompressionIT.java
+++ b/qa/smoke-test-http/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpCompressionIT.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.http;
 
 import org.apache.http.HttpHeaders;
+import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
 import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
 import org.apache.http.message.BasicHeader;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Response;
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ public class HttpCompressionIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         "      \"first name\": \"Steve\",\n" +
         "      \"last name\": \"Jobs\"\n" +
         "   }\n" +
-        "}", RestClient.JSON_CONTENT_TYPE);
+        "}", ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON);
 
     @Override
     protected boolean ignoreExternalCluster() {
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/client/RestTestClient.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/client/RestTestClient.java
index 1ba5960bf9a..dfa59509790 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/client/RestTestClient.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/client/RestTestClient.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.RandomizedTest;
 import org.apache.http.Header;
 import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
 import org.apache.http.HttpHost;
+import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
 import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
 import org.apache.http.message.BasicHeader;
 import org.apache.http.nio.conn.ssl.SSLIOSessionStrategy;
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ public class RestTestClient implements Closeable {
             String path = "/"+ Objects.requireNonNull(queryStringParams.remove("path"), "Path must be set to use raw request");
             HttpEntity entity = null;
             if (body != null && body.length() > 0) {
-                entity = new StringEntity(body, RestClient.JSON_CONTENT_TYPE);
+                entity = new StringEntity(body, ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON);
             }
             // And everything else is a url parameter!
             try {
@@ -204,7 +205,7 @@ public class RestTestClient implements Closeable {
                 requestMethod = "GET";
             } else {
                 requestMethod = RandomizedTest.randomFrom(supportedMethods);
-                requestBody = new StringEntity(body, RestClient.JSON_CONTENT_TYPE);
+                requestBody = new StringEntity(body, ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON);
             }
         } else {
             if (restApi.isBodyRequired()) {