Oh, good - I tried null, but didn't think to try `""`.

I see 2 problems with a single method call - `consumerArgs` is final - I would have to rework it to be null by default instead of an empty map - second there are a lot of tests that mock the shorter `basicConsume` and would all have to be changed.

These, together with the fact it's a point release make me lean towards keeping it as is (but with `""` for the tag).

But, if you feel really strongly...