diff --git a/sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/kafka/BeamKafkaTable.java b/sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/kafka/BeamKafkaTable.java
index f1ec20831a4c..ab1817f6d75c 100644
--- a/sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/kafka/BeamKafkaTable.java
+++ b/sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/kafka/BeamKafkaTable.java
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ public PCollection<Row> buildIOReader(PBegin begin) {
         .setRowSchema(getSchema());
   }
 
-  KafkaIO.Read<byte[], byte[]> createKafkaRead() {
+  protected KafkaIO.Read<byte[], byte[]> createKafkaRead() {
     KafkaIO.Read<byte[], byte[]> kafkaRead;
     if (topics != null) {
       kafkaRead =
diff --git a/sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/kafka/KafkaTestTable.java b/sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/kafka/KafkaTestTable.java
index 44b4dbe21aca..158b0345bd8b 100644
--- a/sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/kafka/KafkaTestTable.java
+++ b/sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/meta/provider/kafka/KafkaTestTable.java
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public KafkaTestTable(Schema beamSchema, List<String> topics, int partitionsPerT
   }
 
   @Override
-  KafkaIO.Read<byte[], byte[]> createKafkaRead() {
+  protected KafkaIO.Read<byte[], byte[]> createKafkaRead() {
     return super.createKafkaRead().withConsumerFactoryFn(this::mkMockConsumer);
   }