setContentType sets body encoding too

core/src/main/scala/requests.scala

@@ -84,10 +84,6 @@ trait ParamVerbs extends RequestVerbs {
       subject.setMethod(method)
     else subject
   }
-  private def defaultBodyEncoding(charset: String): Req = {
-    if (Option(subject.toRequest.getBodyEncoding).isEmpty) subject.setBodyEncoding(charset)
-    else subject
-  }
   private def defaultContentType(mediaType: String, charset: String): Req = {
     if (!subject.toRequest.getHeaders.containsKey("Content-Type"))
       subject.setContentType(mediaType, charset)
@@ -104,11 +100,10 @@ trait ParamVerbs extends RequestVerbs {
   }
   /** Set request body to a given string,
    *  - set method to POST if currently GET,
-   *  - set HTTP Content-Type to "text/plain; charset=UTF-8" if unspecified,
-   *  - and set body encoding to UTF-8 if unspecified. */
+   *  - set HTTP Content-Type to "text/plain; charset=UTF-8" if unspecified. */
   def << (body: String) = {
     defaultMethod("POST").defaultContentType("text/plain", "UTF-8").
-      defaultBodyEncoding("UTF-8").setBody(body)
+      setBody(body)
   }
   /** Set a file as the request body and set method to PUT if it's
     * currently GET. */
@@ -172,7 +167,10 @@ trait RequestBuilderVerbs extends RequestVerbs {
   def setBodyEncoding(charset: String) =
     subject.underlying { _.setBodyEncoding(charset) }
   def setContentType(mediaType: String, charset: String) =
-    subject.underlying { _.setHeader("Content-Type", mediaType + "; charset=" + charset) }
+    subject.underlying {
+      _.setHeader("Content-Type", mediaType + "; charset=" + charset).
+      setBodyEncoding(charset)
+    }
   def setHeader(name: String, value: String) =
     subject.underlying { _.setHeader(name, value) }
   def setHeaders(headers: Map[String, Seq[String]]) =

docs/03/a.markdown

@@ -45,10 +45,12 @@ parameters to the body at once:
 def myPostWithParams = myRequest << Map("key" -> "value")
 ```
 
-You can also POST an arbitrary string:
+You can also POST an arbitrary string. Be sure to set MIME media type
+and character encoding:
 
 ```scala
-def myPostWithBody = myRequest << """{"key": "value"}"""
+def myRequestAsJson = myRequest.setContentType("application/json", "UTF-8")
+def myPostWithBody = myRequestAsJson << """{"key": "value"}"""
 ```
 
 ### Query parameters