diff --git a/pkg/kgo/client.go b/pkg/kgo/client.go
index 322e9f10..2dbd33e9 100644
--- a/pkg/kgo/client.go
+++ b/pkg/kgo/client.go
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ func (cl *Client) OptValues(opt any) []any {
 		return []any{cfg.hooks}
 	case namefn(ConcurrentTransactionsBackoff):
 		return []any{cfg.txnBackoff}
-	case namefn(considerMissingTopicDeletedAfter):
+	case namefn(ConsiderMissingTopicDeletedAfter):
 		return []any{cfg.missingTopicDelete}
 
 	case namefn(DefaultProduceTopic):
diff --git a/pkg/kgo/config.go b/pkg/kgo/config.go
index 1281628f..8c4f6807 100644
--- a/pkg/kgo/config.go
+++ b/pkg/kgo/config.go
@@ -833,10 +833,14 @@ func ConcurrentTransactionsBackoff(backoff time.Duration) Opt {
 	return clientOpt{func(cfg *cfg) { cfg.txnBackoff = backoff }}
 }
 
-// considerMissingTopicDeletedAfter sets the amount of time a topic can be
+// ConsiderMissingTopicDeletedAfter sets the amount of time a topic can be
 // missing from metadata responses _after_ loading it at least once before it
-// is considered deleted.
-func considerMissingTopicDeletedAfter(t time.Duration) Opt {
+// is considered deleted, overriding the default of 15s. Note that for newer
+// versions of Kafka, it may take a bit of time (~15s) for the cluster to fully
+// recognize a newly created topic. If this option is set too low, there is
+// some risk that the client will internally purge and re-see a topic a few
+// times until the cluster fully broadcasts the topic creation.
+func ConsiderMissingTopicDeletedAfter(t time.Duration) Opt {
 	return clientOpt{func(cfg *cfg) { cfg.missingTopicDelete = t }}
 }