diff --git a/monasca_common/kafka/consumer.py b/monasca_common/kafka/consumer.py
index 7b9a08ce..670ac1f1 100644
--- a/monasca_common/kafka/consumer.py
+++ b/monasca_common/kafka/consumer.py
@@ -95,6 +95,12 @@ class KafkaConsumer(object):
 
     def _create_kafka_consumer(self, partitions=None):
         # No auto-commit so that commits only happen after the message is processed.
+
+        # auto_offset_reset is a param that alters where the current offset in the consumer
+        # will modify from (see whence param in SimpleConsumer.seek()). It is imperative to set
+        # this param as either "largest" or "smallest" depending on where we would like
+        # to modify the offset from, no matter what whence is set to.
+
         consumer = kafka_consumer.SimpleConsumer(
             self._kafka,
             self._kafka_group,
@@ -104,7 +110,8 @@ class KafkaConsumer(object):
             iter_timeout=5,
             fetch_size_bytes=self._kafka_fetch_size,
             buffer_size=self._kafka_fetch_size,
-            max_buffer_size=None)
+            max_buffer_size=None,
+            auto_offset_reset="smallest")
 
         consumer.provide_partition_info()
         consumer.fetch_last_known_offsets()
@@ -127,7 +134,7 @@ class KafkaConsumer(object):
             # an OffsetOutOfRangeError.  We trap this error and seek to
             # the head of the current Kafka data.  Because this error
             # only happens when Kafka removes data we're currently
-            # pointing at we're gauranteed that we won't read any
+            # pointing at we're guaranteed that we won't read any
             # duplicate data however we will lose any information
             # between our current offset and the new Kafka head.