diff --git a/quickwit/quickwit-integration-tests/src/test_utils/cluster_sandbox.rs b/quickwit/quickwit-integration-tests/src/test_utils/cluster_sandbox.rs
index c35dfb66996..e70b29839f8 100644
--- a/quickwit/quickwit-integration-tests/src/test_utils/cluster_sandbox.rs
+++ b/quickwit/quickwit-integration-tests/src/test_utils/cluster_sandbox.rs
@@ -335,8 +335,6 @@ impl ClusterSandbox {
     pub async fn shutdown(self) -> Result<Vec<HashMap<String, ActorExitStatus>>, anyhow::Error> {
         // We need to drop rest clients first because reqwest can hold connections open
         // preventing rest server's graceful shutdown.
-        drop(self.searcher_rest_client);
-        drop(self.indexer_rest_client);
         self.shutdown_trigger.shutdown();
         let result = future::join_all(self.join_handles).await;
         let mut statuses = Vec::new();
diff --git a/quickwit/quickwit-serve/src/rest.rs b/quickwit/quickwit-serve/src/rest.rs
index 1974646e17c..7f0a9435e90 100644
--- a/quickwit/quickwit-serve/src/rest.rs
+++ b/quickwit/quickwit-serve/src/rest.rs
@@ -158,9 +158,19 @@ pub(crate) async fn start_rest_server(
         rest_listen_addr=?rest_listen_addr,
         "Starting REST server listening on {rest_listen_addr}."
     );
-    let serve_fut = hyper::Server::bind(&rest_listen_addr)
-        .serve(Shared::new(service))
-        .with_graceful_shutdown(shutdown_signal);
+
+    // `graceful_shutdown()` seems to be blocking in presence of existing connections.
+    // The following approach of dropping the serve supposedly is not bullet proof, but it seems to
+    // work in our unit test.
+    //
+    // See more of the discussion here:
+    // https://github.com/hyperium/hyper/issues/2386
+    let serve_fut = async move {
+        tokio::select! {
+             res = hyper::Server::bind(&rest_listen_addr).serve(Shared::new(service)) => { res }
+             _ = shutdown_signal => { Ok(()) }
+        }
+    };
 
     let (serve_res, _trigger_res) = tokio::join!(serve_fut, readiness_trigger);
     serve_res?;