diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
index d3616f9cb83d7..89b2f0b6dbfeb 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/KafkaConsumer.java
@@ -760,7 +760,7 @@ public void unsubscribe() {
         try {
             log.debug("Unsubscribed all topics or patterns and assigned partitions");
             this.subscriptions.unsubscribe();
-            this.coordinator.maybeLeaveGroup(false);
+            this.coordinator.maybeLeaveGroup();
             this.metadata.needMetadataForAllTopics(false);
         } finally {
             release();
diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AbstractCoordinator.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AbstractCoordinator.java
index 5b5c8a52d9274..a12c6c1f90ccc 100644
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AbstractCoordinator.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/AbstractCoordinator.java
@@ -540,18 +540,18 @@ protected void coordinatorDead() {
     @Override
     public void close() {
         client.disableWakeups();
-        maybeLeaveGroup(true);
+        maybeLeaveGroup();
     }
 
     /**
      * Leave the current group and reset local generation/memberId.
      */
-    public void maybeLeaveGroup(boolean awaitResponse) {
+    public void maybeLeaveGroup() {
         client.unschedule(heartbeatTask);
         if (!coordinatorUnknown() && generation > 0) {
             // this is a minimal effort attempt to leave the group. we do not
             // attempt any resending if the request fails or times out.
-            sendLeaveGroupRequest(awaitResponse);
+            sendLeaveGroupRequest();
         }
 
         this.generation = OffsetCommitRequest.DEFAULT_GENERATION_ID;
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ public void maybeLeaveGroup(boolean awaitResponse) {
         rejoinNeeded = true;
     }
 
-    private void sendLeaveGroupRequest(boolean awaitResponse) {
+    private void sendLeaveGroupRequest() {
         LeaveGroupRequest request = new LeaveGroupRequest(groupId, memberId);
         RequestFuture<Void> future = client.send(coordinator, ApiKeys.LEAVE_GROUP, request)
                 .compose(new LeaveGroupResponseHandler());
@@ -574,10 +574,7 @@ public void onFailure(RuntimeException e) {
             }
         });
 
-        if (awaitResponse)
-            client.poll(future);
-        else
-            client.poll(future, 0);
+        client.poll(future, 0);
     }
 
     private class LeaveGroupResponseHandler extends CoordinatorResponseHandler<LeaveGroupResponse, Void> {
diff --git a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/ConsumerCoordinatorTest.java b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/ConsumerCoordinatorTest.java
index 86ac6b3723f78..500aaed914008 100644
--- a/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/ConsumerCoordinatorTest.java
+++ b/clients/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/consumer/internals/ConsumerCoordinatorTest.java
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ public boolean matches(ClientRequest request) {
                         leaveRequest.groupId().equals(groupId);
             }
         }, new LeaveGroupResponse(Errors.NONE.code()).toStruct());
-        coordinator.maybeLeaveGroup(false);
+        coordinator.maybeLeaveGroup();
         assertTrue(received.get());
         assertEquals(JoinGroupRequest.UNKNOWN_MEMBER_ID, coordinator.memberId);
         assertEquals(OffsetCommitRequest.DEFAULT_GENERATION_ID, coordinator.generation);
@@ -672,7 +672,7 @@ public void testCommitAfterLeaveGroup() {
         // now switch to manual assignment
         client.prepareResponse(new LeaveGroupResponse(Errors.NONE.code()).toStruct());
         subscriptions.unsubscribe();
-        coordinator.maybeLeaveGroup(false);
+        coordinator.maybeLeaveGroup();
         subscriptions.assignFromUser(Arrays.asList(tp));
 
         // the client should not reuse generation/memberId from auto-subscribed generation