diff --git a/transport/src/test/java/io/netty/channel/CoalescingBufferQueueTest.java b/transport/src/test/java/io/netty/channel/CoalescingBufferQueueTest.java
index 33cd888ec6..9d3acdf7bf 100644
--- a/transport/src/test/java/io/netty/channel/CoalescingBufferQueueTest.java
+++ b/transport/src/test/java/io/netty/channel/CoalescingBufferQueueTest.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package io.netty.channel;
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
 import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
 import io.netty.channel.embedded.EmbeddedChannel;
+import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
 import io.netty.util.ReferenceCountUtil;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.ImmediateEventExecutor;
 import org.junit.After;
@@ -24,8 +25,6 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.mockito.MockitoAnnotations;
 
-import java.nio.charset.Charset;
-
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertSame;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
@@ -38,7 +37,6 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
 
     private ByteBuf cat;
     private ByteBuf mouse;
-    private ByteBuf empty;
 
     private ChannelPromise catPromise, emptyPromise;
     private ChannelPromise voidPromise;
@@ -65,16 +63,14 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
         emptyPromise = newPromise();
         voidPromise = channel.voidPromise();
 
-        cat = Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("cat".getBytes(Charset.defaultCharset()));
-        mouse = Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("mouse".getBytes(Charset.defaultCharset()));
-        empty = Unpooled.buffer(0, 1);
+        cat = Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("cat".getBytes(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII));
+        mouse = Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("mouse".getBytes(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII));
     }
 
     @After
     public void tearDown() {
         ReferenceCountUtil.safeRelease(cat);
         ReferenceCountUtil.safeRelease(mouse);
-        ReferenceCountUtil.safeRelease(empty);
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -84,7 +80,7 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
         writeQueue.add(mouse, mouseListener);
         assertQueueSize(8, false);
         DefaultChannelPromise aggregatePromise = newPromise();
-        assertEquals("catmouse", writeQueue.remove(8, aggregatePromise).toString(Charset.defaultCharset()));
+        assertEquals("catmouse", dequeue(8, aggregatePromise));
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
         assertFalse(catPromise.isSuccess());
         assertFalse(mouseDone);
@@ -97,11 +93,10 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
     public void testWithVoidPromise() {
         writeQueue.add(cat, voidPromise);
         writeQueue.add(mouse, voidPromise);
-        writeQueue.add(empty, voidPromise);
         assertQueueSize(8, false);
-        assertEquals("catm", writeQueue.remove(4, newPromise()).toString(Charset.defaultCharset()));
+        assertEquals("catm", dequeue(4, newPromise()));
         assertQueueSize(4, false);
-        assertEquals("ouse", writeQueue.remove(4, newPromise()).toString(Charset.defaultCharset()));
+        assertEquals("ouse", dequeue(4, newPromise()));
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
     }
 
@@ -110,7 +105,7 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
         writeQueue.add(cat, catPromise);
         writeQueue.add(mouse, mouseListener);
         DefaultChannelPromise aggregatePromise = newPromise();
-        assertEquals("catm", writeQueue.remove(4, aggregatePromise).toString(Charset.defaultCharset()));
+        assertEquals("catm", dequeue(4, aggregatePromise));
         assertQueueSize(4, false);
         assertFalse(catPromise.isSuccess());
         assertFalse(mouseDone);
@@ -119,7 +114,7 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
         assertFalse(mouseDone);
 
         aggregatePromise = newPromise();
-        assertEquals("ouse", writeQueue.remove(Integer.MAX_VALUE, aggregatePromise).toString(Charset.defaultCharset()));
+        assertEquals("ouse", dequeue(Integer.MAX_VALUE, aggregatePromise));
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
         assertFalse(mouseDone);
         aggregatePromise.trySuccess();
@@ -147,7 +142,7 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
     public void testReadEmptyQueueReturnsEmptyBuffer() {
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
         DefaultChannelPromise aggregatePromise = newPromise();
-        assertEquals(0, writeQueue.remove(Integer.MAX_VALUE, aggregatePromise).readableBytes());
+        assertEquals("", dequeue(Integer.MAX_VALUE, aggregatePromise));
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
     }
 
@@ -162,26 +157,25 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
         assertEquals(0, cat.refCnt());
         assertEquals(0, mouse.refCnt());
         assertSame(cause, catPromise.cause());
-        assertEquals(0, writeQueue.remove(Integer.MAX_VALUE, aggregatePromise).readableBytes());
+        assertEquals("", dequeue(Integer.MAX_VALUE, aggregatePromise));
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
     }
 
     @Test
     public void testEmptyBuffersAreCoalesced() {
+        ByteBuf empty = Unpooled.buffer(0, 1);
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
         writeQueue.add(cat, catPromise);
         writeQueue.add(empty, emptyPromise);
         assertQueueSize(3, false);
         DefaultChannelPromise aggregatePromise = newPromise();
-        ByteBuf removed = writeQueue.remove(3, aggregatePromise);
+        assertEquals("cat", dequeue(3, aggregatePromise));
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
-        assertEquals("cat", removed.toString(Charset.defaultCharset()));
         assertFalse(catPromise.isSuccess());
         assertFalse(emptyPromise.isSuccess());
         aggregatePromise.trySuccess();
         assertTrue(catPromise.isSuccess());
         assertTrue(emptyPromise.isSuccess());
-        removed.release();
         assertEquals(0, cat.refCnt());
         assertEquals(0, empty.refCnt());
     }
@@ -194,7 +188,7 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
         otherQueue.copyTo(writeQueue);
         assertQueueSize(8, false);
         DefaultChannelPromise aggregatePromise = newPromise();
-        assertEquals("catmouse", writeQueue.remove(8, aggregatePromise).toString(Charset.defaultCharset()));
+        assertEquals("catmouse", dequeue(8, aggregatePromise));
         assertQueueSize(0, true);
         assertFalse(catPromise.isSuccess());
         assertFalse(mouseDone);
@@ -215,4 +209,11 @@ public class CoalescingBufferQueueTest {
             assertFalse(writeQueue.isEmpty());
         }
     }
+
+    private String dequeue(int numBytes, ChannelPromise aggregatePromise) {
+        ByteBuf removed = writeQueue.remove(numBytes, aggregatePromise);
+        String result = removed.toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        ReferenceCountUtil.safeRelease(removed);
+        return result;
+    }
 }