diff --git a/src/cli.rs b/src/cli.rs
index 4a159308a..a5e03f3b0 100644
--- a/src/cli.rs
+++ b/src/cli.rs
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ use std::path::PathBuf;
 use url::Url;
 
 use crate::{
+    kafka::SslProtocol,
     oidc::{self, OpenidConfig},
     option::{validation, Compression, Mode},
 };
@@ -125,7 +126,7 @@ pub struct Cli {
     pub kafka_host: Option<String>,
     pub kafka_group: Option<String>,
     pub kafka_client_id: Option<String>,
-    pub kafka_security_protocol: Option<String>,
+    pub kafka_security_protocol: Option<SslProtocol>,
     pub kafka_partitions: Option<String>,
 }
 
@@ -582,7 +583,9 @@ impl FromArgMatches for Cli {
         self.kafka_host = m.get_one::<String>(Self::KAFKA_HOST).cloned();
         self.kafka_group = m.get_one::<String>(Self::KAFKA_GROUP).cloned();
         self.kafka_client_id = m.get_one::<String>(Self::KAFKA_CLIENT_ID).cloned();
-        self.kafka_security_protocol = m.get_one::<String>(Self::KAFKA_SECURITY_PROTOCOL).cloned();
+        self.kafka_security_protocol = m
+            .get_one::<SslProtocol>(Self::KAFKA_SECURITY_PROTOCOL)
+            .cloned();
         self.kafka_partitions = m.get_one::<String>(Self::KAFKA_PARTITIONS).cloned();
 
         self.local_cache_path = m.get_one::<PathBuf>(Self::CACHE).cloned();
diff --git a/src/kafka.rs b/src/kafka.rs
index eae86d851..9eafa754c 100644
--- a/src/kafka.rs
+++ b/src/kafka.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ use rdkafka::error::{KafkaError as NativeKafkaError, RDKafkaError};
 use rdkafka::message::BorrowedMessage;
 use rdkafka::util::Timeout;
 use rdkafka::{Message, TopicPartitionList};
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::fmt::Display;
 use std::num::ParseIntError;
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -26,7 +27,8 @@ use crate::{
     storage::StreamType,
 };
 
-enum SslProtocol {
+#[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, Clone, Copy)]
+pub enum SslProtocol {
     Plaintext,
     Ssl,
     SaslPlaintext,
@@ -150,9 +152,8 @@ fn setup_consumer() -> Result<(StreamConsumer, String), KafkaError> {
         //     conf.set("api.version.request", val.to_string());
         // }
 
-        if let Some(val) = CONFIG.parseable.kafka_security_protocol.as_ref() {
-            let mapped: SslProtocol = val.parse()?;
-            conf.set("security.protocol", mapped.to_string());
+        if let Some(ssl_protocol) = CONFIG.parseable.kafka_security_protocol.as_ref() {
+            conf.set("security.protocol", serde_json::to_string(&ssl_protocol)?);
         }
 
         let consumer: StreamConsumer = conf.create()?;