diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ad4623d38..88d5978fc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
  - Support chunking
  - Add a databaseExists method to InfluxDB interface
+ - [Issue #289] (https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb-java/issues/289) Batching enhancements: Pending asynchronous writes can be explicitly flushed via `InfluxDB.flush()`.
 
 #### Fixes
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/influxdb/InfluxDB.java b/src/main/java/org/influxdb/InfluxDB.java
index 2d1793dfb..698a470b1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/influxdb/InfluxDB.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/influxdb/InfluxDB.java
@@ -273,6 +273,14 @@ public void write(final String database, final String retentionPolicy,
    */
   public boolean databaseExists(final String name);
 
+  /**
+   * Send any buffered points to InfluxDB. This method is synchronous and will block while all pending points are
+   * written.
+   *
+   * @throws IllegalStateException if batching is not enabled.
+   */
+  public void flush();
+
   /**
    * close thread for asynchronous batch write and UDP socket to release resources if need.
    */
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/influxdb/impl/BatchProcessor.java b/src/main/java/org/influxdb/impl/BatchProcessor.java
index e276e6c46..0ad0d0ae9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/influxdb/impl/BatchProcessor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/influxdb/impl/BatchProcessor.java
@@ -263,9 +263,15 @@ public void run() {
    * called if no batch processing is needed anymore.
    *
    */
-  void flush() {
+  void flushAndShutdown() {
     this.write();
     this.scheduler.shutdown();
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Flush the current open writes to InfluxDB. This will block until all pending points are written.
+   */
+  void flush() {
+    this.write();
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/influxdb/impl/InfluxDBImpl.java b/src/main/java/org/influxdb/impl/InfluxDBImpl.java
index 8adc8d748..85e3d5d4a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/influxdb/impl/InfluxDBImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/influxdb/impl/InfluxDBImpl.java
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ public InfluxDB enableBatch(final int actions, final int flushDuration,
   public void disableBatch() {
     this.batchEnabled.set(false);
     if (this.batchProcessor != null) {
-      this.batchProcessor.flush();
+      this.batchProcessor.flushAndShutdown();
       if (this.logLevel != LogLevel.NONE) {
         System.out.println(
             "total writes:" + this.writeCount.get()
@@ -460,6 +460,17 @@ private <T> T execute(final Call<T> call) {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * {@inheritDoc}
+   */
+  @Override
+  public void flush() {
+    if (!batchEnabled.get()) {
+      throw new IllegalStateException("BatchProcessing is not enabled.");
+    }
+    batchProcessor.flush();
+  }
+
   /**
    * {@inheritDoc}
    */
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/influxdb/InfluxDBTest.java b/src/test/java/org/influxdb/InfluxDBTest.java
index 068e44330..116f42552 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/influxdb/InfluxDBTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/influxdb/InfluxDBTest.java
@@ -621,4 +621,33 @@ public void accept(QueryResult result) {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testFlushPendingWritesWhenBatchingEnabled() {
+        String dbName = "flush_tests_" + System.currentTimeMillis();
+        try {
+            this.influxDB.createDatabase(dbName);
+
+            // Enable batching with a very large buffer and flush interval so writes will be triggered by our call to flush().
+            this.influxDB.enableBatch(Integer.MAX_VALUE, Integer.MAX_VALUE, TimeUnit.HOURS);
+
+            String measurement = TestUtils.getRandomMeasurement();
+            Point point = Point.measurement(measurement).tag("atag", "test").addField("used", 80L).addField("free", 1L).build();
+            this.influxDB.write(dbName, TestUtils.defaultRetentionPolicy(this.influxDB.version()), point);
+            this.influxDB.flush();
+
+            Query query = new Query("SELECT * FROM " + measurement + " GROUP BY *", dbName);
+            QueryResult result = this.influxDB.query(query);
+            Assert.assertFalse(result.getResults().get(0).getSeries().get(0).getTags().isEmpty());
+        } finally {
+            this.influxDB.deleteDatabase(dbName);
+            this.influxDB.disableBatch();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalStateException.class)
+    public void testFlushThrowsIfBatchingIsNotEnabled() {
+        Assert.assertFalse(this.influxDB.isBatchEnabled());
+        this.influxDB.flush();
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/influxdb/impl/BatchProcessorTest.java b/src/test/java/org/influxdb/impl/BatchProcessorTest.java
index 039d301f1..82a2e8de4 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/influxdb/impl/BatchProcessorTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/influxdb/impl/BatchProcessorTest.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
@@ -58,6 +59,32 @@ public void testBatchWriteWithDifferenctRp() throws InterruptedException, IOExce
         verify(mockInfluxDB, times(2)).write(any(BatchPoints.class));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testFlushWritesBufferedPointsAndDoesNotShutdownScheduler() throws InterruptedException {
+        InfluxDB mockInfluxDB = mock(InfluxDBImpl.class);
+        BatchProcessor batchProcessor = BatchProcessor.builder(mockInfluxDB)
+                .actions(Integer.MAX_VALUE)
+                .interval(1, TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS).build();
+
+        Point point = Point.measurement("test").addField("region", "a").build();
+        BatchProcessor.HttpBatchEntry httpBatchEntry = new BatchProcessor.HttpBatchEntry(point, "http", "http-rp");
+
+        batchProcessor.put(httpBatchEntry);
+        Thread.sleep(100); // wait for scheduler
+        // Our put should have been written
+        verify(mockInfluxDB).write(any(BatchPoints.class));
+
+        // Force a flush which should not stop the scheduler
+        batchProcessor.flush();
+
+        batchProcessor.put(httpBatchEntry);
+        Thread.sleep(100); // wait for scheduler
+        // Our second put should have been written if the scheduler is still running
+        verify(mockInfluxDB, times(2)).write(any(BatchPoints.class));
+
+        verifyNoMoreInteractions(mockInfluxDB);
+    }
+
     @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
     public void testActionsIsZero() throws InterruptedException, IOException {
         InfluxDB mockInfluxDB = mock(InfluxDBImpl.class);