diff --git a/src/Network/GRPC/Client/Connection.hs b/src/Network/GRPC/Client/Connection.hs
index 678280a1..37e0de02 100644
--- a/src/Network/GRPC/Client/Connection.hs
+++ b/src/Network/GRPC/Client/Connection.hs
@@ -112,6 +112,19 @@ data ConnParams = ConnParams {
       -- (this is not conform gRPC spec).
     , connContentType :: Maybe ContentType
 
+      -- | Should we verify all request headers?
+      --
+      -- This is the client analogue of
+      -- 'Network.GRPC.Server.Context.serverVerifyHeaders'.
+      --
+      -- Arguably, it is less essential to verify headers on the client: a
+      -- server must deal with all kinds of different clients, and might want to
+      -- know if any of those clients has expectations that it cannot fulfill. A
+      -- client however connects to a known server, and knows what information
+      -- it wants from the server. It is also a bit more awkward to implement,
+      -- since the client is more asynchronous than the server handler.
+    , connVerifyHeaders :: Bool
+
       -- | Optionally set the initial compression algorithm
       --
       -- Under normal circumstances, the @grapesy@ client will only start using
@@ -129,12 +142,13 @@ data ConnParams = ConnParams {
 
 instance Default ConnParams where
   def = ConnParams {
-        connCompression           = def
-      , connDefaultTimeout        = Nothing
-      , connReconnectPolicy       = def
-      , connContentType           = Just ContentTypeDefault
-      , connInitCompression       = Nothing
-      , connHTTP2Settings         = def
+        connCompression     = def
+      , connDefaultTimeout  = Nothing
+      , connReconnectPolicy = def
+      , connContentType     = Just ContentTypeDefault
+      , connVerifyHeaders   = False
+      , connInitCompression = Nothing
+      , connHTTP2Settings   = def
       }
 
 {-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/Network/GRPC/Client/Session.hs b/src/Network/GRPC/Client/Session.hs
index 4cf19338..5e1332b3 100644
--- a/src/Network/GRPC/Client/Session.hs
+++ b/src/Network/GRPC/Client/Session.hs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import Network.GRPC.Common
 import Network.GRPC.Common.Compression qualified as Compr
 import Network.GRPC.Spec
 import Network.GRPC.Util.Session
+import Network.GRPC.Util.HKD qualified as HKD
 
 {-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Definition
@@ -126,17 +127,26 @@ processResponseHeaders ::
   -> IO Compression
 processResponseHeaders (ClientSession conn) responseHeaders' = do
     Connection.updateConnectionMeta conn responseHeaders'
-    case responseCompression responseHeaders' of
-      Left  err        -> throwIO $ CallSetupInvalidResponseHeaders err
-      Right Nothing    -> return noCompression
-      Right (Just cid) ->
-        case Compr.getSupported (connCompression connParams) cid of
-          Just compr -> return compr
-          Nothing    -> throwIO $ CallSetupUnsupportedCompression cid
+
+    if connVerifyHeaders connParams then
+      case HKD.sequence responseHeaders' of
+        Left  err  -> throwIO $ CallSetupInvalidResponseHeaders err
+        Right hdrs -> getCompression $ responseCompression hdrs
+    else
+      case responseCompression responseHeaders' of
+        Left  err  -> throwIO $ CallSetupInvalidResponseHeaders err
+        Right mcid -> getCompression mcid
   where
     connParams :: ConnParams
     connParams = Connection.connParams conn
 
+    getCompression :: Maybe CompressionId -> IO Compression
+    getCompression Nothing    = return noCompression
+    getCompression (Just cid) =
+        case Compr.getSupported (connCompression connParams) cid of
+          Just compr -> return compr
+          Nothing    -> throwIO $ CallSetupUnsupportedCompression cid
+
 {-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Exceptions
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------}
diff --git a/test-grapesy/Test/Driver/ClientServer.hs b/test-grapesy/Test/Driver/ClientServer.hs
index 3fbcbf6a..ffa1cd87 100644
--- a/test-grapesy/Test/Driver/ClientServer.hs
+++ b/test-grapesy/Test/Driver/ClientServer.hs
@@ -525,6 +525,8 @@ runTestClient cfg firstTestFailure port clientRun = do
               connCompression           = clientCompr cfg
             , connInitCompression       = clientInitCompr cfg
             , connDefaultTimeout        = Nothing
+            , connVerifyHeaders         = True
+            , connHTTP2Settings         = defaultHTTP2Settings
 
               -- Content-type
             , connContentType =
@@ -540,7 +542,6 @@ runTestClient cfg firstTestFailure port clientRun = do
                   Client.ReconnectAfter $ do
                     threadDelay 100_000
                     return Client.DontReconnect
-            , connHTTP2Settings = defaultHTTP2Settings
             }
 
         clientServer :: Client.Server
diff --git a/test-grapesy/Test/Sanity/BrokenDeployments.hs b/test-grapesy/Test/Sanity/BrokenDeployments.hs
index 6b9fc92c..fdd61541 100644
--- a/test-grapesy/Test/Sanity/BrokenDeployments.hs
+++ b/test-grapesy/Test/Sanity/BrokenDeployments.hs
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ import Proto.API.Ping
 
 tests :: TestTree
 tests = testGroup "Test.Sanity.BrokenDeployments" [
-      testCase "non200" test_non200
+      testCase "non200"             test_non200
+    , testCase "nonGrpcContentType" test_nonGrpcContentType
     ]
 
 {-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -37,9 +38,9 @@ tests = testGroup "Test.Sanity.BrokenDeployments" [
 -- We don't test all codes here; we'd just end up duplicating the logic in
 -- 'classifyServerResponse'. We just check one representative value.
 test_non200 :: Assertion
-test_non200 = respondWith response  $ \addr -> do
+test_non200 = respondWith response $ \addr -> do
     mResp :: Either GrpcException (Proto PongMessage) <- try $
-      Client.withConnection def (Client.ServerInsecure addr) $ \conn ->
+      Client.withConnection connParams (Client.ServerInsecure addr) $ \conn ->
         Client.withRPC conn def (Proxy @Ping) $ \call -> do
           Client.sendFinalInput call defMessage
           fst <$> Client.recvFinalOutput call
@@ -54,6 +55,33 @@ test_non200 = respondWith response  $ \addr -> do
           responseStatus = HTTP.badRequest400
         }
 
+test_nonGrpcContentType :: Assertion
+test_nonGrpcContentType = respondWith response $ \addr -> do
+    mResp <- try $
+      Client.withConnection connParams (Client.ServerInsecure addr) $ \conn ->
+        Client.withRPC conn def (Proxy @Ping) $ \call -> do
+          Client.sendFinalInput call defMessage
+          fst <$> Client.recvFinalOutput call
+    case mResp of
+      -- TODO: <https://github.com/well-typed/grapesy/issues/22>
+      -- We should get a gRPC exception here instead.
+      Left Client.CallSetupInvalidResponseHeaders{} ->
+        return ()
+      _otherwise ->
+        assertFailure $ "Unexpected response: " ++ show mResp
+  where
+    response :: Response
+    response = def {
+          responseHeaders = [
+              ("content-type", "someInvalidContentType")
+            ]
+        }
+
+connParams :: Client.ConnParams
+connParams = def {
+      Client.connVerifyHeaders = True
+    }
+
 {-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Test server