diff --git a/Godeps b/Godeps
index 2b4fce555..5cb31c9f6 100644
--- a/Godeps
+++ b/Godeps
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ github.com/aerospike/aerospike-client-go 45863b7fd8640dc12f7fdd397104d97e1986f25
 github.com/amir/raidman 53c1b967405155bfc8758557863bf2e14f814687
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go 13a12060f716145019378a10e2806c174356b857
 github.com/beorn7/perks 3ac7bf7a47d159a033b107610db8a1b6575507a4
+github.com/bsm/sarama-cluster dc1a390cf63c40d0a20ee9f79c4be120f79110e5
 github.com/cenkalti/backoff 4dc77674aceaabba2c7e3da25d4c823edfb73f99
 github.com/couchbase/go-couchbase cb664315a324d87d19c879d9cc67fda6be8c2ac1
 github.com/couchbase/gomemcached a5ea6356f648fec6ab89add00edd09151455b4b2
@@ -38,7 +39,6 @@ github.com/naoina/go-stringutil 6b638e95a32d0c1131db0e7fe83775cbea4a0d0b
 github.com/nats-io/nats b13fc9d12b0b123ebc374e6b808c6228ae4234a3
 github.com/nats-io/nuid 4f84f5f3b2786224e336af2e13dba0a0a80b76fa
 github.com/nsqio/go-nsq 0b80d6f05e15ca1930e0c5e1d540ed627e299980
-github.com/opencontainers/runc 89ab7f2ccc1e45ddf6485eaa802c35dcf321dfc8
 github.com/prometheus/client_golang 18acf9993a863f4c4b40612e19cdd243e7c86831
 github.com/prometheus/client_model fa8ad6fec33561be4280a8f0514318c79d7f6cb6
 github.com/prometheus/common e8eabff8812b05acf522b45fdcd725a785188e37
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
index 5600d82a4..c6ef26560 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/kafka_consumer/kafka_consumer.go
@@ -1,39 +1,65 @@
 package kafka_consumer
 
 import (
+	"crypto/tls"
 	"log"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/internal"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/inputs"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/parsers"
 
 	"github.com/Shopify/sarama"
+	"github.com/bsm/sarama-cluster"
 	"github.com/wvanbergen/kafka/consumergroup"
 )
 
 type Kafka struct {
-	ConsumerGroup   string
-	Topics          []string
+	// new kafka consumer
+	NewConsumer bool
+	// common for both versions
+	ConsumerGroup string
+	Topics        []string
+	Offset        string
+
+	// for 0.8
 	ZookeeperPeers  []string
 	ZookeeperChroot string
 	Consumer        *consumergroup.ConsumerGroup
 
+	// for 0.9+
+	BrokerList []string
+	Consumer9  *cluster.Consumer
+	// Path to CA file
+	SSLCA string `toml:"ssl_ca"`
+	// Path to host cert file
+	SSLCert string `toml:"ssl_cert"`
+	// Path to cert key file
+	SSLKey string `toml:"ssl_key"`
+
+	// Skip SSL verification
+	InsecureSkipVerify bool
+
+	tlsConfig tls.Config
+
 	// Legacy metric buffer support
 	MetricBuffer int
 	// TODO remove PointBuffer, legacy support
 	PointBuffer int
 
-	Offset string
 	parser parsers.Parser
 
 	sync.Mutex
 
 	// channel for all incoming kafka messages
 	in <-chan *sarama.ConsumerMessage
+
 	// channel for all kafka consumer errors
-	errs <-chan *sarama.ConsumerError
+	errs  <-chan *sarama.ConsumerError
+	errs9 <-chan error
+
 	done chan struct{}
 
 	// keep the accumulator internally:
@@ -45,6 +71,8 @@ type Kafka struct {
 }
 
 var sampleConfig = `
+  ## is new consumer?
+  new_consumer = true
   ## topic(s) to consume
   topics = ["telegraf"]
   ## an array of Zookeeper connection strings
@@ -82,41 +110,88 @@ func (k *Kafka) Start(acc telegraf.Accumulator) error {
 
 	k.acc = acc
 
-	config := consumergroup.NewConfig()
-	config.Zookeeper.Chroot = k.ZookeeperChroot
-	switch strings.ToLower(k.Offset) {
-	case "oldest", "":
-		config.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetOldest
-	case "newest":
-		config.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetNewest
-	default:
-		log.Printf("WARNING: Kafka consumer invalid offset '%s', using 'oldest'\n",
-			k.Offset)
-		config.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetOldest
-	}
+	log.Println(k.NewConsumer)
 
-	if k.Consumer == nil || k.Consumer.Closed() {
-		k.Consumer, consumerErr = consumergroup.JoinConsumerGroup(
-			k.ConsumerGroup,
-			k.Topics,
-			k.ZookeeperPeers,
-			config,
-		)
-		if consumerErr != nil {
-			return consumerErr
+	if !k.NewConsumer {
+		config := consumergroup.NewConfig()
+
+		config.Zookeeper.Chroot = k.ZookeeperChroot
+		switch strings.ToLower(k.Offset) {
+		case "oldest", "":
+			config.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetOldest
+		case "newest":
+			config.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetNewest
+		default:
+			log.Printf("WARNING: Kafka consumer invalid offset '%s', using 'oldest'\n",
+				k.Offset)
+			config.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetOldest
 		}
 
+		if k.Consumer == nil || k.Consumer.Closed() {
+			k.Consumer, consumerErr = consumergroup.JoinConsumerGroup(
+				k.ConsumerGroup,
+				k.Topics,
+				k.ZookeeperPeers,
+				config,
+			)
+			if consumerErr != nil {
+				return consumerErr
+			}
+
+			// Setup message and error channels
+			k.in = k.Consumer.Messages()
+			k.errs = k.Consumer.Errors()
+		}
+		k.done = make(chan struct{})
+		// Start the kafka message reader
+		go k.receiver()
+		log.Printf("Started the kafka consumer service, peers: %v, topics: %v\n",
+			k.ZookeeperPeers, k.Topics)
+	} else {
+		config := cluster.NewConfig()
+
+		tlsConfig, err := internal.GetTLSConfig(k.SSLCert, k.SSLKey, k.SSLCA, k.InsecureSkipVerify)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		if tlsConfig != nil {
+			config.Net.TLS.Config = tlsConfig
+			config.Net.TLS.Enable = true
+		}
+
+		switch strings.ToLower(k.Offset) {
+		case "oldest", "":
+			config.Consumer.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetOldest
+		case "newest":
+			config.Consumer.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetNewest
+		default:
+			log.Printf("WARNING: Kafka consumer invalid offset '%s', using 'oldest'\n",
+				k.Offset)
+			config.Consumer.Offsets.Initial = sarama.OffsetOldest
+		}
+
+		// TODO: make this configurable
+		config.Consumer.Return.Errors = true
+
+		if err := config.Validate(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		k.Consumer9, err = cluster.NewConsumer(k.BrokerList, k.ConsumerGroup, k.Topics, config)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 		// Setup message and error channels
-		k.in = k.Consumer.Messages()
-		k.errs = k.Consumer.Errors()
+		k.in = k.Consumer9.Messages()
+		k.errs9 = k.Consumer9.Errors()
+		k.done = make(chan struct{})
+		// Start the kafka message reader for 0.9
+		go k.collector()
+		log.Printf("Started the kafka consumer service with new consumer, brokers: %v, topics: %v\n",
+			k.BrokerList, k.Topics)
 	}
 
-	k.done = make(chan struct{})
-
-	// Start the kafka message reader
-	go k.receiver()
-	log.Printf("Started the kafka consumer service, peers: %v, topics: %v\n",
-		k.ZookeeperPeers, k.Topics)
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -151,12 +226,45 @@ func (k *Kafka) receiver() {
 	}
 }
 
+// this is for kafka new consumer
+func (k *Kafka) collector() {
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-k.done:
+			return
+		case err := <-k.errs9:
+			log.Printf("Kafka Consumer Error: %s\n", err.Error())
+		case msg := <-k.in:
+			metrics, err := k.parser.Parse(msg.Value)
+
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Printf("KAFKA PARSE ERROR\nmessage: %s\nerror: %s",
+					string(msg.Value), err.Error())
+			}
+
+			for _, metric := range metrics {
+				k.acc.AddFields(metric.Name(), metric.Fields(), metric.Tags(), metric.Time())
+			}
+
+			if !k.doNotCommitMsgs {
+				k.Consumer9.MarkOffset(msg, "")
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func (k *Kafka) Stop() {
 	k.Lock()
 	defer k.Unlock()
 	close(k.done)
-	if err := k.Consumer.Close(); err != nil {
-		log.Printf("Error closing kafka consumer: %s\n", err.Error())
+	if !k.NewConsumer {
+		if err := k.Consumer.Close(); err != nil {
+			log.Printf("Error closing kafka consumer: %s\n", err.Error())
+		}
+	} else {
+		if err := k.Consumer9.Close(); err != nil {
+			log.Printf("Error closing kafka consumer: %s\n", err.Error())
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/plugins/parsers/json/parser.go b/plugins/parsers/json/parser.go
index e5172ac97..a7c447dfa 100644
--- a/plugins/parsers/json/parser.go
+++ b/plugins/parsers/json/parser.go
@@ -11,9 +11,11 @@ import (
 )
 
 type JSONParser struct {
-	MetricName  string
-	TagKeys     []string
-	DefaultTags map[string]string
+	MetricName         string
+	TagKeys            []string
+	DefaultTags        map[string]string
+	TimestampSelector  string
+	TimestampFormatter string
 }
 
 func (p *JSONParser) Parse(buf []byte) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
@@ -31,6 +33,25 @@ func (p *JSONParser) Parse(buf []byte) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
 		tags[k] = v
 	}
 
+	timestampStr := ""
+	timestampData := jsonOut[p.TimestampSelector]
+	if timestampData != nil {
+		timestampStr = timestampData.(string)
+	}
+
+	if p.TimestampFormatter == "" {
+		p.TimestampFormatter = time.RFC3339Nano
+	}
+
+	timestamp := time.Now().UTC()
+	if timestampStr != "" {
+		timestampTmp, err := time.Parse(p.TimestampFormatter, timestampStr)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		timestamp = timestampTmp
+	}
+
 	for _, tag := range p.TagKeys {
 		switch v := jsonOut[tag].(type) {
 		case string:
@@ -45,7 +66,7 @@ func (p *JSONParser) Parse(buf []byte) ([]telegraf.Metric, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	metric, err := telegraf.NewMetric(p.MetricName, tags, f.Fields, time.Now().UTC())
+	metric, err := telegraf.NewMetric(p.MetricName, tags, f.Fields, timestamp)
 
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/plugins/parsers/registry.go b/plugins/parsers/registry.go
index 360d795bc..b528eeb94 100644
--- a/plugins/parsers/registry.go
+++ b/plugins/parsers/registry.go
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@ type Config struct {
 
 	// DefaultTags are the default tags that will be added to all parsed metrics.
 	DefaultTags map[string]string
+
+	// TimestampSelector only applies to JSON
+	TimestampSelector string
+
+	// TimestampFormatter only applies to JSON
+	TimestampFormatter string
 }
 
 // NewParser returns a Parser interface based on the given config.
@@ -67,7 +73,8 @@ func NewParser(config *Config) (Parser, error) {
 	switch config.DataFormat {
 	case "json":
 		parser, err = NewJSONParser(config.MetricName,
-			config.TagKeys, config.DefaultTags)
+			config.TagKeys, config.DefaultTags,
+			config.TimestampSelector, config.TimestampFormatter)
 	case "value":
 		parser, err = NewValueParser(config.MetricName,
 			config.DataType, config.DefaultTags)
@@ -88,11 +95,23 @@ func NewJSONParser(
 	metricName string,
 	tagKeys []string,
 	defaultTags map[string]string,
+	timestampParameters ...string,
 ) (Parser, error) {
+	timestampSelector, timestampFormatter := "", ""
+	switch len(timestampParameters) {
+	case 2:
+		timestampFormatter = timestampParameters[1]
+		fallthrough
+	case 1:
+		timestampSelector = timestampParameters[0]
+	}
+
 	parser := &json.JSONParser{
-		MetricName:  metricName,
-		TagKeys:     tagKeys,
-		DefaultTags: defaultTags,
+		MetricName:         metricName,
+		TagKeys:            tagKeys,
+		DefaultTags:        defaultTags,
+		TimestampSelector:  timestampSelector,
+		TimestampFormatter: timestampFormatter,
 	}
 	return parser, nil
 }