diff --git a/test-jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/testing/HttpTester.java b/test-jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/testing/HttpTester.java
index 46e31be676b..b49a807e3a3 100644
--- a/test-jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/testing/HttpTester.java
+++ b/test-jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/testing/HttpTester.java
@@ -444,7 +444,19 @@ public class HttpTester
      */
     public void setHeader(String name, String value)
     {
+        if (HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE.equalsIgnoreCase(name))
+            setContentType(value);
+        else
         _fields.put(name,value);
+        
+    }
+    
+    /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
+    public void setContentType(String value)
+    {
+        _contentType = MimeTypes.CACHE.lookup(value);
+        _charset = MimeTypes.getCharsetFromContentType(_contentType);
+        _fields.put(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE_BUFFER,_contentType);
     }
 
     /* ------------------------------------------------------------ */
diff --git a/test-jetty-servlet/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/testing/HttpTesterTest.java b/test-jetty-servlet/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/testing/HttpTesterTest.java
index b12ea713cce..60a9eb148e4 100644
--- a/test-jetty-servlet/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/testing/HttpTesterTest.java
+++ b/test-jetty-servlet/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/testing/HttpTesterTest.java
@@ -50,7 +50,25 @@ public class HttpTesterTest extends TestCase
         assertEquals(200, tester.getStatus());
         assertEquals("22", tester.getHeader("Content-Length"));
         assertEquals("text/html",tester.getContentType());
-        System.err.println(tester.getContent());
     }
 
+    public void testSetCharset() throws Exception
+    {      
+        String content = "123456789\uA74A";
+        HttpTester tester = new HttpTester();
+        tester.setVersion("HTTP/1.0");
+        tester.setMethod("POST");
+        tester.setHeader("Content-type", "application/json; charset=iso-8859-1");
+        tester.setURI("/1/batch");
+        tester.setContent(content);
+        assertEquals("123456789?",tester.getContent());
+
+        tester.setHeader("Content-type", "application/json; charset=UTF-8");
+        tester.setContent(content);
+        assertEquals("123456789\uA74A",tester.getContent());
+  
+        String request=tester.generate();
+        assertTrue(request.startsWith("POST "));
+        assertTrue(request.trim().endsWith(content));
+    }
 }