diff --git a/BUILD b/BUILD
index dca6dc1..db2462f 100644
--- a/BUILD
+++ b/BUILD
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@
     tags = ["kafka-events"],
     deps = [
         ":kafka-events__plugin_test_deps",
+        "//lib/testcontainers",
         "@kafka_client//jar",
+        "@testcontainers-kafka//jar",
     ],
 )
 
@@ -37,5 +39,7 @@
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     exports = PLUGIN_DEPS + PLUGIN_TEST_DEPS + [
         ":kafka-events__plugin",
+        "@testcontainers-kafka//jar",
+        "//lib/testcontainers",
     ],
 )
diff --git a/external_plugin_deps.bzl b/external_plugin_deps.bzl
index 33df632..6a51cf5 100644
--- a/external_plugin_deps.bzl
+++ b/external_plugin_deps.bzl
@@ -6,3 +6,9 @@
         artifact = "org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients:0.10.0.1",
         sha1 = "36ebf4044d0e546bf74c95629d736ca63320a323",
     )
+
+    maven_jar(
+        name = "testcontainers-kafka",
+        artifact = "org.testcontainers:kafka:1.8.0",
+        sha1 = "1d6f0a529dd87bc66bc68a09b8b58ed17ebf33f6",
+    )
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaProperties.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaProperties.java
index f5782b7..c01e34e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaProperties.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/config/KafkaProperties.java
@@ -15,11 +15,15 @@
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.config;
 
 import com.google.common.base.CaseFormat;
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.annotations.PluginName;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.config.PluginConfig;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.config.PluginConfigFactory;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
+import java.util.UUID;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerConfig;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer;
 
 @Singleton
@@ -37,6 +41,7 @@
     PluginConfig fromGerritConfig = configFactory.getFromGerritConfig(pluginName);
     topic = fromGerritConfig.getString("topic", "gerrit");
     applyConfig(fromGerritConfig);
+    initDockerizedKafkaServer();
   }
 
   private void setDefaults() {
@@ -59,6 +64,18 @@
     }
   }
 
+  /** Bootstrap initialization of dockerized Kafka server environment */
+  private void initDockerizedKafkaServer() {
+    String testBootstrapServer = System.getProperty(ProducerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG);
+    if (!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(testBootstrapServer)) {
+      this.put(ProducerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, testBootstrapServer);
+      this.put(ProducerConfig.CLIENT_ID_CONFIG, UUID.randomUUID().toString());
+      this.put(ConsumerConfig.GROUP_ID_CONFIG, "tc-" + UUID.randomUUID());
+      this.put(ConsumerConfig.HEARTBEAT_INTERVAL_MS_CONFIG, "1000");
+      this.put(ConsumerConfig.AUTO_OFFSET_RESET_CONFIG, "earliest");
+    }
+  }
+
   public String getTopic() {
     return topic;
   }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/EventConsumerIT.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/EventConsumerIT.java
index 997428e..9007e91 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/EventConsumerIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/kafka/EventConsumerIT.java
@@ -39,21 +39,41 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecord;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecords;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.KafkaConsumer;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerConfig;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.KafkaContainer;
 
-/*
- * This tests assumes that Kafka server is running on: localhost:9092.
- * Alternatively, testcontainers library can be used to set up dockerized
- * Kafka instance from withing JUnit test.
- */
 @NoHttpd
 @TestPlugin(name = "kafka-events", sysModule = "com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.kafka.Module")
 public class EventConsumerIT extends LightweightPluginDaemonTest {
   static final long KAFKA_POLL_TIMEOUT = 10000L;
 
+  private KafkaContainer kafka;
+
+  @Override
+  public void setUpTestPlugin() throws Exception {
+    try {
+      kafka = new KafkaContainer();
+      kafka.start();
+
+      System.setProperty(ProducerConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, kafka.getBootstrapServers());
+    } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
+      fail("Cannot start container. Is docker daemon running?");
+    }
+
+    super.setUpTestPlugin();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void tearDownTestPlugin() {
+    super.tearDownTestPlugin();
+    if (kafka != null) {
+      kafka.stop();
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   @UseLocalDisk
-  @GerritConfig(name = "plugin.kafka-events.bootstrapServers", value = "localhost:9092")
   @GerritConfig(name = "plugin.kafka-events.groupId", value = "test-consumer-group")
   @GerritConfig(
       name = "plugin.kafka-events.keyDeserializer",
@@ -73,8 +93,8 @@
     String expectedMessage = "Patch Set 1: Code-Review+1\n\nLGTM";
     assertThat(messages.get(1).message).isEqualTo(expectedMessage);
 
-    KafkaProperties kafkaProperties = kafkaProperties();
     List<String> events = new ArrayList<>();
+    KafkaProperties kafkaProperties = kafkaProperties();
     try (Consumer<String, String> consumer = new KafkaConsumer<>(kafkaProperties)) {
       consumer.subscribe(Collections.singleton(kafkaProperties.getTopic()));
       ConsumerRecords<String, String> records = consumer.poll(KAFKA_POLL_TIMEOUT);