diff --git a/e2e_test/sink/kafka/protobuf.slt b/e2e_test/sink/kafka/protobuf.slt
index 422cd5b8dcb14..5f032ba32f8dc 100644
--- a/e2e_test/sink/kafka/protobuf.slt
+++ b/e2e_test/sink/kafka/protobuf.slt
@@ -214,3 +214,6 @@ drop table from_kafka_raw cascade;
 
 statement ok
 drop table into_kafka cascade;
+
+system ok
+rpk topic delete test-rw-sink-upsert-protobuf