diff --git a/test/support/test_helper.js b/test/support/test_helper.js
index e44916fd..e1e64cbc 100644
--- a/test/support/test_helper.js
+++ b/test/support/test_helper.js
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ function checkSurrogateKey(res, expectedKey) {
     assert.equal(res.headers['surrogate-key'], expectedKey);
 }
 
+var redisClient;
+
+beforeEach(function() {
+    if (!redisClient) {
+        redisClient = redis.createClient(global.environment.redis.port);
+    }
+});
+
 //global afterEach to capture test suites that leave keys in redis
 afterEach(function(done) {
 
@@ -102,7 +110,6 @@ afterEach(function(done) {
     }
 
     Object.keys(databasesTasks).forEach(function(db) {
-        var redisClient = redis.createClient(global.environment.redis.port);
         redisClient.select(db, function() {
             // Check that we start with an empty redis db
             redisClient.keys("*", function(err, keys) {
@@ -129,6 +136,7 @@ function deleteRedisKeys(keysToDelete, callback) {
         var redisClient = redis.createClient(global.environment.redis.port);
         redisClient.select(keysToDelete[k], function() {
             redisClient.del(k, function(err, deletedKeysCount) {
+                redisClient.quit();
                 assert.notStrictEqual(deletedKeysCount, 0, 'No KEYS deleted for: [db=' + keysToDelete[k] + ']' + k);
                 taskDone(k);
             });