diff --git a/components/log/include/esp_log.h b/components/log/include/esp_log.h
index 131e093e9f..7457830ed1 100644
--- a/components/log/include/esp_log.h
+++ b/components/log/include/esp_log.h
@@ -40,6 +40,15 @@ typedef enum {
 
 typedef int (*vprintf_like_t)(const char *, va_list);
 
+/**
+ * @brief Default log level
+ *
+ * This is used by the definition of ESP_EARLY_LOGx macros. It is not
+ * recommended to set this directly, call esp_log_level_set("*", level)
+ * instead.
+ */
+extern esp_log_level_t esp_log_default_level;
+
 /**
  * @brief Set log level for given tag
  *
@@ -282,8 +291,16 @@ void esp_log_writev(esp_log_level_t level, const char* tag, const char* format,
 /// macro to output logs in startup code at ``ESP_LOG_VERBOSE`` level.  @see ``ESP_EARLY_LOGE``,``ESP_LOGE``, ``printf``
 #define ESP_EARLY_LOGV( tag, format, ... ) ESP_LOG_EARLY_IMPL(tag, format, ESP_LOG_VERBOSE, V, ##__VA_ARGS__)
 
+#ifdef BOOTLOADER_BUILD
+#define _ESP_LOG_EARLY_ENABLED(log_level) (LOG_LOCAL_LEVEL >= (log_level))
+#else
+/* For early log, there is no log tag filtering. So we want to log only if both the LOG_LOCAL_LEVEL and the
+   currently configured min log level are higher than the log level */
+#define _ESP_LOG_EARLY_ENABLED(log_level) (LOG_LOCAL_LEVEL >= (log_level) && esp_log_default_level >= (log_level))
+#endif
+
 #define ESP_LOG_EARLY_IMPL(tag, format, log_level, log_tag_letter, ...) do {                             \
-        if (LOG_LOCAL_LEVEL >= log_level) {                                                              \
+        if (_ESP_LOG_EARLY_ENABLED(log_level)) {                                                         \
             esp_rom_printf(LOG_FORMAT(log_tag_letter, format), esp_log_timestamp(), tag, ##__VA_ARGS__); \
         }} while(0)
 
@@ -351,7 +368,8 @@ void esp_log_writev(esp_log_level_t level, const char* tag, const char* format,
 /**
  * @brief Macro to output logs when the cache is disabled. log at ``ESP_LOG_ERROR`` level.
  *
- * Similar to `ESP_EARLY_LOGE`, the log level cannot be changed by `esp_log_level_set`.
+ * Similar to `ESP_EARLY_LOGE`, the log level cannot be changed per-tag, however
+ * esp_log_level_set("*", level) will set the default level which controls these log lines also.
  *
  * Usage: `ESP_DRAM_LOGE(DRAM_STR("my_tag"), "format", or `ESP_DRAM_LOGE(TAG, "format", ...)`,
  * where TAG is a char* that points to a str in the DRAM.
@@ -374,7 +392,7 @@ void esp_log_writev(esp_log_level_t level, const char* tag, const char* format,
 #define _ESP_LOG_DRAM_LOG_FORMAT(letter, format)  DRAM_STR(#letter " %s: " format "\n")
 
 #define ESP_DRAM_LOG_IMPL(tag, format, log_level, log_tag_letter, ...) do {                       \
-        if (LOG_LOCAL_LEVEL >= log_level) {                                                       \
+        if (_ESP_LOG_EARLY_ENABLED(log_level)) {                                                  \
             esp_rom_printf(_ESP_LOG_DRAM_LOG_FORMAT(log_tag_letter, format), tag, ##__VA_ARGS__); \
         }} while(0)
 /** @endcond */
diff --git a/components/log/log.c b/components/log/log.c
index 903acffbf9..178557c936 100644
--- a/components/log/log.c
+++ b/components/log/log.c
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ typedef struct uncached_tag_entry_ {
     char tag[0];    // beginning of a zero-terminated string
 } uncached_tag_entry_t;
 
-static esp_log_level_t s_log_default_level = ESP_LOG_VERBOSE;
+esp_log_level_t esp_log_default_level = CONFIG_LOG_DEFAULT_LEVEL;
 static SLIST_HEAD(log_tags_head, uncached_tag_entry_) s_log_tags = SLIST_HEAD_INITIALIZER(s_log_tags);
 static cached_tag_entry_t s_log_cache[TAG_CACHE_SIZE];
 static uint32_t s_log_cache_max_generation = 0;
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ void esp_log_level_set(const char *tag, esp_log_level_t level)
 
     // for wildcard tag, remove all linked list items and clear the cache
     if (strcmp(tag, "*") == 0) {
-        s_log_default_level = level;
+        esp_log_default_level = level;
         clear_log_level_list();
         esp_log_impl_unlock();
         return;
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ void esp_log_writev(esp_log_level_t level,
     // Look for the tag in cache first, then in the linked list of all tags
     if (!get_cached_log_level(tag, &level_for_tag)) {
         if (!get_uncached_log_level(tag, &level_for_tag)) {
-            level_for_tag = s_log_default_level;
+            level_for_tag = esp_log_default_level;
         }
         add_to_cache(tag, level_for_tag);
 #ifdef LOG_BUILTIN_CHECKS