diff --git a/hystrix-core/src/main/java/com/netflix/hystrix/strategy/concurrency/HystrixRequestVariableHolder.java b/hystrix-core/src/main/java/com/netflix/hystrix/strategy/concurrency/HystrixRequestVariableHolder.java
index 84bd70d76..54a6dd56d 100644
--- a/hystrix-core/src/main/java/com/netflix/hystrix/strategy/concurrency/HystrixRequestVariableHolder.java
+++ b/hystrix-core/src/main/java/com/netflix/hystrix/strategy/concurrency/HystrixRequestVariableHolder.java
@@ -65,7 +65,11 @@ public T get(HystrixConcurrencyStrategy concurrencyStrategy) {
             }
         }
 
-        return (T) requestVariableInstance.get(key).get();
+        T result = (T) requestVariableInstance.get(key).get();
+        if (result == null) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Failed to get HystrixRequestVariable. Maybe you need to initialize the HystrixRequestContext?");
+        }
+        return result;
     }
 
     private static class RVCacheKey {
diff --git a/hystrix-core/src/test/java/com/netflix/hystrix/HystrixRequestCacheTest.java b/hystrix-core/src/test/java/com/netflix/hystrix/HystrixRequestCacheTest.java
index dbc66c172..353ebc2cd 100644
--- a/hystrix-core/src/test/java/com/netflix/hystrix/HystrixRequestCacheTest.java
+++ b/hystrix-core/src/test/java/com/netflix/hystrix/HystrixRequestCacheTest.java
@@ -66,6 +66,14 @@ public void testCache() {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test(expected = IllegalStateException.class)
+    public void testCacheWithoutContext() {
+        HystrixRequestCache.getInstance(
+            HystrixCommandKey.Factory.asKey("command1"),
+            HystrixConcurrencyStrategyDefault.getInstance()
+        ).get("any");
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testClearCache() {
         HystrixConcurrencyStrategy strategy = HystrixConcurrencyStrategyDefault.getInstance();