diff --git a/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh b/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh
index 1c10c29aba5c0..3c17ca0abe7cf 100755
--- a/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh
+++ b/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 set -e
 
+###
+### keep until 7.2.0 snapshots are available
+###
+export TEST_ES_BRANCH=7.2.0
+
 dir="$(pwd)"
 cacheDir="${CACHE_DIR:-"$HOME/.kibana"}"