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 883a048e78ce4..2052af9160398 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
@@ -570,7 +570,7 @@ public class KafkaConsumer<K, V> implements Consumer<K, V> {
 
     private Logger log;
     private final String clientId;
-    private String groupId;
+    private final Optional<String> groupId;
     private final ConsumerCoordinator coordinator;
     private final Deserializer<K> keyDeserializer;
     private final Deserializer<V> valueDeserializer;
@@ -673,7 +673,7 @@ private KafkaConsumer(ConsumerConfig config, Deserializer<K> keyDeserializer, De
             GroupRebalanceConfig groupRebalanceConfig = new GroupRebalanceConfig(config,
                     GroupRebalanceConfig.ProtocolType.CONSUMER);
 
-            this.groupId = groupRebalanceConfig.groupId;
+            this.groupId = Optional.ofNullable(groupRebalanceConfig.groupId);
             this.clientId = buildClientId(config.getString(CommonClientConfigs.CLIENT_ID_CONFIG), groupRebalanceConfig);
 
             LogContext logContext;
@@ -681,20 +681,22 @@ private KafkaConsumer(ConsumerConfig config, Deserializer<K> keyDeserializer, De
             // If group.instance.id is set, we will append it to the log context.
             if (groupRebalanceConfig.groupInstanceId.isPresent()) {
                 logContext = new LogContext("[Consumer instanceId=" + groupRebalanceConfig.groupInstanceId.get() +
-                        ", clientId=" + clientId + ", groupId=" + groupId + "] ");
+                        ", clientId=" + clientId + ", groupId=" + groupId.orElse("null") + "] ");
             } else {
-                logContext = new LogContext("[Consumer clientId=" + clientId + ", groupId=" + groupId + "] ");
+                logContext = new LogContext("[Consumer clientId=" + clientId + ", groupId=" + groupId.orElse("null") + "] ");
             }
 
             this.log = logContext.logger(getClass());
             boolean enableAutoCommit = config.getBoolean(ConsumerConfig.ENABLE_AUTO_COMMIT_CONFIG);
-            if (groupId == null) { // overwrite in case of default group id where the config is not explicitly provided
-                if (!config.originals().containsKey(ConsumerConfig.ENABLE_AUTO_COMMIT_CONFIG))
+            if (!groupId.isPresent()) { // overwrite in case of default group id where the config is not explicitly provided
+                if (!config.originals().containsKey(ConsumerConfig.ENABLE_AUTO_COMMIT_CONFIG)) {
                     enableAutoCommit = false;
-                else if (enableAutoCommit)
+                } else if (enableAutoCommit) {
                     throw new InvalidConfigurationException(ConsumerConfig.ENABLE_AUTO_COMMIT_CONFIG + " cannot be set to true when default group id (null) is used.");
-            } else if (groupId.isEmpty())
+                }
+            } else if (groupId.get().isEmpty()) {
                 log.warn("Support for using the empty group id by consumers is deprecated and will be removed in the next major release.");
+            }
 
             log.debug("Initializing the Kafka consumer");
             this.requestTimeoutMs = config.getInt(ConsumerConfig.REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS_CONFIG);
@@ -773,7 +775,7 @@ else if (enableAutoCommit)
             this.assignors = getAssignorInstances(config.getList(ConsumerConfig.PARTITION_ASSIGNMENT_STRATEGY_CONFIG), config.originals());
 
             // no coordinator will be constructed for the default (null) group id
-            this.coordinator = groupId == null ? null :
+            this.coordinator = !groupId.isPresent() ? null :
                 new ConsumerCoordinator(groupRebalanceConfig,
                         logContext,
                         this.client,
@@ -858,7 +860,7 @@ else if (enableAutoCommit)
         this.requestTimeoutMs = requestTimeoutMs;
         this.defaultApiTimeoutMs = defaultApiTimeoutMs;
         this.assignors = assignors;
-        this.groupId = groupId;
+        this.groupId = Optional.ofNullable(groupId);
         this.kafkaConsumerMetrics = new KafkaConsumerMetrics(metrics, "consumer");
     }
 
@@ -2436,7 +2438,7 @@ private void throwIfNoAssignorsConfigured() {
     }
 
     private void maybeThrowInvalidGroupIdException() {
-        if (groupId == null)
+        if (!groupId.isPresent())
             throw new InvalidGroupIdException("To use the group management or offset commit APIs, you must " +
                     "provide a valid " + ConsumerConfig.GROUP_ID_CONFIG + " in the consumer configuration.");
     }