diff --git a/elasticsearch/helpers/test.py b/elasticsearch/helpers/test.py
index 06dc86c6..2abf473d 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/helpers/test.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/helpers/test.py
@@ -9,13 +9,14 @@ except ImportError:
 from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
 from elasticsearch.exceptions import ConnectionError
 
-def get_test_client(nowait=False):
+def get_test_client(nowait=False, **kwargs):
     # construct kwargs from the environment
-    kw = {}
+    kw = {'timeout': 30}
     if 'TEST_ES_CONNECTION' in os.environ:
         from elasticsearch import connection
         kw['connection_class'] = getattr(connection, os.environ['TEST_ES_CONNECTION'])
 
+    kw.update(kwargs)
     client = Elasticsearch([os.environ.get('TEST_ES_SERVER', {})], **kw)
 
     # wait for yellow status