diff --git a/builtin/branch.c b/builtin/branch.c
index 16d391b407..1969c7116c 100644
--- a/builtin/branch.c
+++ b/builtin/branch.c
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ static int git_branch_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 			return config_error_nonbool(var);
 		return color_parse(value, branch_colors[slot]);
 	}
-	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return git_color_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
 static const char *branch_get_color(enum color_branch ix)
diff --git a/builtin/clean.c b/builtin/clean.c
index c1bafda5b6..057fc97fe4 100644
--- a/builtin/clean.c
+++ b/builtin/clean.c
@@ -125,7 +125,8 @@ static int git_clean_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	/* inspect the color.ui config variable and others */
+	return git_color_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
 static const char *clean_get_color(enum color_clean ix)
diff --git a/builtin/grep.c b/builtin/grep.c
index 42ff87065a..7e79eb1a75 100644
--- a/builtin/grep.c
+++ b/builtin/grep.c
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ static int wait_all(void)
 static int grep_cmd_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 {
 	int st = grep_config(var, value, cb);
-	if (git_default_config(var, value, cb) < 0)
+	if (git_color_default_config(var, value, cb) < 0)
 		st = -1;
 
 	if (!strcmp(var, "grep.threads")) {
diff --git a/builtin/show-branch.c b/builtin/show-branch.c
index 28f245c8cc..7073a3eb97 100644
--- a/builtin/show-branch.c
+++ b/builtin/show-branch.c
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@ static int git_show_branch_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return git_color_default_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
 static int omit_in_dense(struct commit *commit, struct commit **rev, int n)
diff --git a/color.c b/color.c
index 7aa8b076f0..31b6207a00 100644
--- a/color.c
+++ b/color.c
@@ -361,6 +361,14 @@ int git_color_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+int git_color_default_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
+{
+	if (git_color_config(var, value, cb) < 0)
+		return -1;
+
+	return git_default_config(var, value, cb);
+}
+
 void color_print_strbuf(FILE *fp, const char *color, const struct strbuf *sb)
 {
 	if (*color)
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index acebc85d81..231f9a750b 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 #include "string-list.h"
 #include "utf8.h"
 #include "dir.h"
-#include "color.h"
 
 struct config_source {
 	struct config_source *prev;
@@ -1351,9 +1350,6 @@ int git_default_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *dummy)
 	if (starts_with(var, "advice."))
 		return git_default_advice_config(var, value);
 
-	if (git_color_config(var, value, dummy) < 0)
-		return -1;
-
 	if (!strcmp(var, "pager.color") || !strcmp(var, "color.pager")) {
 		pager_use_color = git_config_bool(var,value);
 		return 0;
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 9c38258030..85e714f6c6 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -299,6 +299,9 @@ int git_diff_ui_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (git_color_config(var, value, cb) < 0)
+		return -1;
+
 	return git_diff_basic_config(var, value, cb);
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t3701-add-interactive.sh b/t/t3701-add-interactive.sh
index 87ffd4d43c..a49c12c79b 100755
--- a/t/t3701-add-interactive.sh
+++ b/t/t3701-add-interactive.sh
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ test_expect_success 'hunk-editing handles custom comment char' '
 	git diff --exit-code
 '
 
-test_expect_failure 'add -p works even with color.ui=always' '
+test_expect_success 'add -p works even with color.ui=always' '
 	git reset --hard &&
 	echo change >>file &&
 	test_config color.ui always &&