diff --git a/test/cli.js b/test/cli.js
index abbf6e841..102ba4d9e 100644
--- a/test/cli.js
+++ b/test/cli.js
@@ -5,23 +5,15 @@ const childProcess = require('child_process');
 const test = require('tap').test;
 const getStream = require('get-stream');
 const figures = require('figures');
-const chalk = require('chalk');
 const mkdirp = require('mkdirp');
 const touch = require('touch');
 const proxyquire = require('proxyquire');
 const sinon = require('sinon');
 const uniqueTempDir = require('unique-temp-dir');
 const execa = require('execa');
-const colors = require('../lib/colors');
 
 const cliPath = path.join(__dirname, '../cli.js');
 
-// For some reason chalk is disabled by default
-chalk.enabled = true;
-for (const key of Object.keys(colors)) {
-	colors[key].enabled = true;
-}
-
 function execCli(args, opts, cb) {
 	let dirname;
 	let env;
@@ -74,12 +66,12 @@ function execCli(args, opts, cb) {
 }
 
 test('disallow invalid babel config shortcuts', t => {
-	execCli(['--color', 'es2015.js'], {dirname: 'fixture/invalid-babel-config'}, (err, stdout, stderr) => {
+	execCli(['es2015.js'], {dirname: 'fixture/invalid-babel-config'}, (err, stdout, stderr) => {
 		t.ok(err);
 
 		let expectedOutput = '\n  ';
-		expectedOutput += colors.error(figures.cross) + ' Unexpected Babel configuration for AVA.';
-		expectedOutput += ' See ' + chalk.underline('https://github.com/avajs/ava#es2015-support') + ' for allowed values.';
+		expectedOutput += figures.cross + ' Unexpected Babel configuration for AVA.';
+		expectedOutput += ' See https://github.com/avajs/ava#es2015-support for allowed values.';
 		expectedOutput += '\n';
 
 		t.is(stderr, expectedOutput);
diff --git a/test/fixture/chalk-disabled.js b/test/fixture/chalk-disabled.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..21caccf3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixture/chalk-disabled.js
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import chalk from 'chalk';
+import test from '../../';
+
+test('should not support colors', t => {
+	t.false(chalk.enabled);
+});
diff --git a/test/fixture/chalk-enabled.js b/test/fixture/chalk-enabled.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a7e0ff640
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixture/chalk-enabled.js
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import chalk from 'chalk';
+import test from '../../';
+
+test('should support colors', t => {
+	t.true(chalk.enabled);
+});
diff --git a/test/fork.js b/test/fork.js
index 256e65fca..266e50652 100644
--- a/test/fork.js
+++ b/test/fork.js
@@ -7,15 +7,15 @@ const CachingPrecompiler = require('../lib/caching-precompiler');
 const cacheDir = path.join(__dirname, '../node_modules/.cache/ava');
 const precompiler = new CachingPrecompiler({path: cacheDir});
 
-function fork(testPath) {
+function fork(testPath, options) {
 	const hash = precompiler.precompileFile(testPath);
 	const precompiled = {};
 	precompiled[testPath] = hash;
 
-	return _fork(testPath, {
+	return _fork(testPath, Object.assign({
 		cacheDir,
 		precompiled
-	});
+	}, options));
 }
 
 function fixture(name) {
@@ -125,3 +125,20 @@ test('babelrc is ignored', t => {
 			t.end();
 		});
 });
+
+test('color support is initialized correctly', t => {
+	t.plan(1);
+
+	return Promise.all([
+		fork(fixture('chalk-enabled.js'), {color: true}).run({}),
+		fork(fixture('chalk-disabled.js'), {color: false}).run({}),
+		fork(fixture('chalk-disabled.js'), {}).run({})
+	]).then(info => {
+		info.forEach(info => {
+			if (info.stats.failCount > 0) {
+				throw new Error(`${info.file} failed`);
+			}
+		});
+		t.is(info.length, 3);
+	});
+});