diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 003e2a0cef6..cf3ae6026f2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 **Bug fixes**
 
 - Fixed an issue in `EuiTooltip` because IE1 didn't support `document.contains()` ([#1190](https://github.com/elastic/eui/pull/1190))
+- Fixed some issues around parsing string values in EuiSearchBar / EuiQuery ([#1189](https://github.com/elastic/eui/pull/1189))
 
 ## [`4.0.0`](https://github.com/elastic/eui/tree/v4.0.0)
 
diff --git a/src/components/search_bar/query/default_syntax.js b/src/components/search_bar/query/default_syntax.js
index 7d0ce661048..3bced52e84d 100644
--- a/src/components/search_bar/query/default_syntax.js
+++ b/src/components/search_bar/query/default_syntax.js
@@ -107,11 +107,11 @@ containsOrValues
   )* space? ")" { return [ head, ...tail ]; }
   
 rangeValue
-  = number
+  = numberWord
   / date
 
 containsValue
-  = number
+  = numberWord
   / date
   / booleanWord
   / word
@@ -152,6 +152,11 @@ boolean
 number
  = [\\-]?[0-9]+("."[0-9]+)* { return Exp.number(text(), location()); }
 
+// only match numbers followed by whitespace or end of input 
+numberWord
+ = num:number &space { return num; }
+ / num:number !. { return num; }
+
 date
  = "'" expression:((!"'" .)+ { return text(); }) "'" {
  	return Exp.date(expression, location());
@@ -210,14 +215,20 @@ const resolveFieldValue = (field, valueExpression, ctx) => {
   if (isArray(valueExpression)) {
     return valueExpression.map(exp => resolveFieldValue(field, exp, ctx));
   }
-  const { type, expression, location } = valueExpression;
+  const { location } = valueExpression;
+  let { type, expression } = valueExpression;
   if (schema && !schema.fields[field] && schema.strict) {
     error(`Unknown field \`${field}\``, location);
   }
   const schemaField = schema && schema.fields[field];
   if (schemaField && schemaField.type !== type && schema.strict) {
-    const valueDesc = schemaField.valueDescription || `a ${schemaField.type} value`;
-    error(`Expected ${valueDesc} for field \`${field}\`, but found \`${expression}\``, location);
+    if (schemaField.type === 'string') {
+      expression = valueExpression.expression = expression.toString();
+      type = valueExpression.type = 'string';
+    } else {
+      const valueDesc = schemaField.valueDescription || `a ${schemaField.type} value`;
+      error(`Expected ${valueDesc} for field \`${field}\`, but found \`${expression}\``, location);
+    }
   }
   switch(type) {
 
diff --git a/src/components/search_bar/query/default_syntax.test.js b/src/components/search_bar/query/default_syntax.test.js
index febf66d133c..9805d5f81a2 100644
--- a/src/components/search_bar/query/default_syntax.test.js
+++ b/src/components/search_bar/query/default_syntax.test.js
@@ -777,6 +777,36 @@ describe('defaultSyntax', () => {
     expect(printedQuery).toBe(query);
   });
 
+  test('number type', () => {
+    const query = 'count:15';
+    const ast = defaultSyntax.parse(query);
+
+    expect(ast).toBeDefined();
+    expect(ast.clauses).toHaveLength(1);
+
+    const clause = ast.getSimpleFieldClause('count');
+    expect(clause).toBeDefined();
+    expect(AST.Field.isInstance(clause)).toBe(true);
+    expect(AST.Match.isMustClause(clause)).toBe(true);
+    expect(clause.field).toBe('count');
+    expect(clause.value).toBe(15);
+  });
+
+  test('string that starts with a number', () => {
+    const query = 'count:15n';
+    const ast = defaultSyntax.parse(query);
+
+    expect(ast).toBeDefined();
+    expect(ast.clauses).toHaveLength(1);
+
+    const clause = ast.getSimpleFieldClause('count');
+    expect(clause).toBeDefined();
+    expect(AST.Field.isInstance(clause)).toBe(true);
+    expect(AST.Match.isMustClause(clause)).toBe(true);
+    expect(clause.field).toBe('count');
+    expect(clause.value).toBe('15n');
+  });
+
   test('strict schema - flags - listed', () => {
 
     const query = `is:active`;
@@ -933,4 +963,26 @@ describe('defaultSyntax', () => {
     }).toThrow('Unknown field `name`');
   });
 
+  test('strict schema - string fields have their values coerced', () => {
+    const query = `name:15`;
+    const schema = {
+      strict: true,
+      fields: {
+        name: {
+          type: 'string'
+        }
+      }
+    };
+    const ast = defaultSyntax.parse(query, { schema });
+
+    expect(ast).toBeDefined();
+    expect(ast.clauses).toHaveLength(1);
+
+    const clause = ast.getSimpleFieldClause('name');
+    expect(clause).toBeDefined();
+    expect(AST.Field.isInstance(clause)).toBe(true);
+    expect(AST.Match.isMustClause(clause)).toBe(true);
+    expect(clause.field).toBe('name');
+    expect(clause.value).toBe('15');
+  });
 });