diff --git a/swh/journal/client.py b/swh/journal/client.py
--- a/swh/journal/client.py
+++ b/swh/journal/client.py
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
 # Only accepted offset reset policy accepted
 ACCEPTED_OFFSET_RESET = ['earliest', 'latest']
 
-# Only accepted object types
-ACCEPTED_OBJECT_TYPES = [
+# Default object types, which are the node types in the SWH model
+DEFAULT_OBJECT_TYPES = [
     'content',
     'directory',
     'revision',
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@
     'origin_visit'
 ]
 
+# Only accepted object types
+ACCEPTED_OBJECT_TYPES = DEFAULT_OBJECT_TYPES + [
+    'origin_intrinsic_metadata',
+]
+
 
 class JournalClient:
     """A base client for the Software Heritage journal.
@@ -40,7 +45,8 @@
     'swh.journal.objects'.
 
     Clients subscribe to events specific to each object type as listed in the
-    `object_types` argument (if unset, defaults to all accepted object types).
+    `object_types` argument (if unset, defaults to `DEFAULT_OBJECT_TYPES`,
+    all object types in the SWH model).
 
     Clients can be sharded by setting the `group_id` to a common
     value across instances. The journal will share the message
@@ -59,7 +65,7 @@
         if prefix is None:
             prefix = DEFAULT_PREFIX
         if object_types is None:
-            object_types = ACCEPTED_OBJECT_TYPES
+            object_types = DEFAULT_OBJECT_TYPES
         if auto_offset_reset not in ACCEPTED_OFFSET_RESET:
             raise ValueError(
                 'Option \'auto_offset_reset\' only accept %s, not %s' %
diff --git a/swh/journal/tests/test_client.py b/swh/journal/tests/test_client.py
--- a/swh/journal/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/swh/journal/tests/test_client.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from swh.journal.serializers import key_to_kafka, value_to_kafka
 
 
-def test_client(
+def test_client_objects(
         kafka_prefix: str,
         kafka_server: Tuple[Popen, int]):
     (_, port) = kafka_server
@@ -48,3 +48,53 @@
     client.process(worker_fn)
 
     worker_fn.assert_called_once_with({'revision': [rev.to_dict()]})
+
+
+def test_client_metadata(
+        kafka_prefix: str,
+        kafka_server: Tuple[Popen, int]):
+    (_, port) = kafka_server
+    kafka_prefix += '.swh.journal.metadata'
+
+    producer = Producer({
+        'bootstrap.servers': 'localhost:{}'.format(port),
+        'client.id': 'test producer',
+        'enable.idempotence': 'true',
+    })
+
+    tool = {
+        b'name': b'some-tool',
+        b'version': b'some-version',
+        b'configuration': {b'debian-package': b'some-package'},
+    }
+    key = {
+        b'origin': b'http://example.org/',
+        b'tool': tool,
+    }
+    value = {
+        '@context': 'https://doi.org/10.5063/schema/codemeta-2.0',
+        'type': 'SoftwareSourceCode',
+        'author': ['Someone'],
+    }
+
+    # Fill Kafka
+    producer.produce(
+        topic=kafka_prefix + '.origin_intrinsic_metadata',
+        key=key_to_kafka(key),
+        value=value_to_kafka(value),
+    )
+    producer.flush()
+
+    config = {
+        'brokers': 'localhost:%d' % kafka_server[1],
+        'group_id': 'replayer',
+        'prefix': kafka_prefix,
+        'max_messages': 1,
+        'object_types': ['origin_intrinsic_metadata'],
+    }
+    client = JournalClient(**config)
+
+    worker_fn = MagicMock()
+    client.process(worker_fn)
+
+    worker_fn.assert_called_once_with({'origin_intrinsic_metadata': [value]})