diff --git a/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/runtime/devui/KafkaTopicClient.java b/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/runtime/devui/KafkaTopicClient.java
index 85d672c2ea45f..2cfd5b990dd7f 100644
--- a/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/runtime/devui/KafkaTopicClient.java
+++ b/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/runtime/devui/KafkaTopicClient.java
@@ -249,8 +249,9 @@ private void assertRequestedPartitionsExist(String topicName, Collection<Integer
     }
 
     public void createMessage(KafkaMessageCreateRequest request) {
-        var record = new ProducerRecord<>(request.getTopic(), request.getPartition(), Bytes.wrap(request.getKey().getBytes()),
-                Bytes.wrap(request.getValue().getBytes()));
+        var record = new ProducerRecord<>(request.getTopic(), request.getPartition(),
+                Bytes.wrap(request.getKey().getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)),
+                Bytes.wrap(request.getValue().getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)));
 
         Optional.ofNullable(request.getHeaders())
                 .orElseGet(Collections::emptyMap)
diff --git a/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/runtime/devui/model/converter/KafkaModelConverter.java b/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/runtime/devui/model/converter/KafkaModelConverter.java
index 59101e9c11d9e..2b14ee5c8483a 100644
--- a/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/runtime/devui/model/converter/KafkaModelConverter.java
+++ b/extensions/kafka-client/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kafka/client/runtime/devui/model/converter/KafkaModelConverter.java
@@ -19,8 +19,12 @@ public KafkaMessage convert(ConsumerRecord<Bytes, Bytes> message) {
                 message.partition(),
                 message.offset(),
                 message.timestamp(),
-                Optional.ofNullable(message.key()).map(Bytes::toString).orElse(null),
-                Optional.ofNullable(message.value()).map(Bytes::toString).orElse(null),
+                Optional.ofNullable(message.key()).map((t) -> {
+                    return new String(t.get(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+                }).orElse(null),
+                Optional.ofNullable(message.value()).map((t) -> {
+                    return new String(t.get(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+                }).orElse(null),
                 headers(message));
     }