diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/its/jira/restapi/JiraRestApi.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/its/jira/restapi/JiraRestApi.java
index 9f81230..6cf97dc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/its/jira/restapi/JiraRestApi.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/its/jira/restapi/JiraRestApi.java
@@ -46,8 +46,7 @@
    * @param pass password of the jira user
    */
   JiraRestApi(URL url, String user, String pass, Class<T> classOfT, String classPrefix) {
-    String auth = user + ":" + pass;
-    this.auth = Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(auth.getBytes());
+    this.auth = Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString((user + ":" + pass).getBytes());
     this.baseUrl = url;
     this.gson = new Gson();
     this.classOfT = classOfT;