diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/tests/produce_consume_validate.py b/tests/kafkatest/tests/produce_consume_validate.py
index afb885d7c99..9240f322c79 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/tests/produce_consume_validate.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/tests/produce_consume_validate.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class ProduceConsumeValidateTest(Test):
     def setup_producer_and_consumer(self):
         raise NotImplementedError("Subclasses should implement this")
 
-    def start_producer_and_consumer(self, async=False):
+    def start_producer_and_consumer(self):
         # Start background producer and consumer
         self.consumer.start()
         if (self.consumer_init_timeout_sec > 0):
@@ -58,11 +58,11 @@ class ProduceConsumeValidateTest(Test):
                        self.consumer_init_timeout_sec)
 
         self.producer.start()
-        wait_until(lambda: async or self.producer.num_acked > 5,
+        wait_until(lambda: self.producer.num_acked > 5,
                    timeout_sec=self.producer_start_timeout_sec,
                    err_msg="Producer failed to produce messages for %ds." %\
                    self.producer_start_timeout_sec)
-        wait_until(lambda: async or len(self.consumer.messages_consumed[1]) > 0,
+        wait_until(lambda: len(self.consumer.messages_consumed[1]) > 0,
                    timeout_sec=self.consumer_start_timeout_sec,
                    err_msg="Consumer failed to consume messages for %ds." %\
                    self.consumer_start_timeout_sec)
@@ -89,10 +89,10 @@ class ProduceConsumeValidateTest(Test):
         self.producer.stop()
         self.consumer.wait()
 
-    def run_produce_consume_validate(self, async=False, core_test_action=None, *args):
+    def run_produce_consume_validate(self, core_test_action=None, *args):
         """Top-level template for simple produce/consume/validate tests."""
         try:
-            self.start_producer_and_consumer(async)
+            self.start_producer_and_consumer()
 
             if core_test_action is not None:
                 core_test_action(*args)