diff --git a/src/jest/helpers.js b/src/jest/helpers.js
index 06cfc0e0b..cd66a9d04 100644
--- a/src/jest/helpers.js
+++ b/src/jest/helpers.js
@@ -11,28 +11,7 @@ export async function authenticatedHeaders ({ email, password }) {
         }
       }`
   const response = await request(host, mutation)
-  const { token } = response.login
-  if (!token) throw new Error(`Could not get a JWT token from the backend:\n${response}`)
   return {
-    authorization: `Bearer ${token}`
+    authorization: `Bearer ${response.login.token}`
   }
 }
-
-export async function queryServer ({ headers, query, variables }) {
-  const defaultHeaders = {
-    Accept: 'application/json',
-    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
-  }
-  const response = await fetch(host, {
-    method: 'POST',
-    authenticatedHeaders,
-    headers: Object.assign({}, defaultHeaders, headers),
-    body: JSON.stringify({
-      operationName: null,
-      query,
-      variables
-    })
-  })
-  const json = await response.json()
-  return json.data
-}
diff --git a/src/middleware/permissionsMiddleware.spec.js b/src/middleware/permissionsMiddleware.spec.js
index 3ea3f9e55..50f6ebadd 100644
--- a/src/middleware/permissionsMiddleware.spec.js
+++ b/src/middleware/permissionsMiddleware.spec.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { create, cleanDatabase } from '../seed/factories'
-import { authenticatedHeaders, queryServer } from '../jest/helpers'
+import { host, authenticatedHeaders, queryServer } from '../jest/helpers'
+import { GraphQLClient } from 'graphql-request'
 
 describe('authorization', () => {
   describe('given two existing users', () => {
@@ -21,15 +22,12 @@ describe('authorization', () => {
     describe('access email address', () => {
       let headers = {}
       const action = async (headers) => {
-        const options = {
-          headers,
-          query: `{
-                    User(email: "owner@example.org") {
-                      email
-                    }
-                  }`
-        }
-        return await queryServer(options)
+        const graphQLClient = new GraphQLClient(host, { headers })
+        return await graphQLClient.request(`{
+          User(email: "owner@example.org") {
+            email
+          }
+        }`)
       }
 
       describe('not logged in', async () => {