diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/daikon/HttpResponse.kt b/src/main/kotlin/daikon/HttpResponse.kt
index ae2129b..f26e207 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/daikon/HttpResponse.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/daikon/HttpResponse.kt
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 package daikon
 
 import java.io.StringWriter
+import java.nio.charset.Charset
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse
 
 class HttpResponse(private val response: HttpServletResponse) : Response {
@@ -29,6 +32,7 @@ class HttpResponse(private val response: HttpServletResponse) : Response {
 
     override fun write(text: String) {
         writer.write(text)
+        response.characterEncoding = UTF_8.name()
         response.writer.write(text)
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/kotlin/daikon/CharacterEncodingTest.kt b/src/test/kotlin/daikon/CharacterEncodingTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4786e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/kotlin/daikon/CharacterEncodingTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+package daikon
+
+import daikon.Localhost.get
+import daikon.Localhost.post
+import org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
+import java.net.URLEncoder
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8
+
+class CharacterEncodingTest {
+
+    @Test
+    fun `body supports utf8`() {
+        HttpServer()
+            .get("/") { _, res -> res.write("%&è") }
+            .start().use {
+                assertThat(get("/").text).isEqualTo("%&è")
+            }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `query string parameter supports utf8`() {
+        HttpServer()
+            .get("/") { req, res -> res.write(req.param("name")) }
+            .start().use {
+                assertThat(get("/?name=è$%26").text).isEqualTo("è$&")
+            }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `path parameters supports utf8`() {
+        HttpServer()
+            .get("/:name") { req, res -> res.write(req.param(":name")) }
+            .start().use {
+                assertThat(get("/è%24%26").text).isEqualTo(URLEncoder.encode("è$&", UTF_8.name()))
+            }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `post data supports utf8`() {
+        HttpServer()
+            .post("/") { req, res -> res.write(req.param("name")) }
+            .start().use {
+                val response = post("/", data = mapOf("name" to "è$&"))
+                assertThat(response.text).isEqualTo("è$&")
+            }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `header does not supports utf8`() {
+        HttpServer()
+            .get("/") { req, res -> res.write(req.header("name")) }
+            .start().use {
+                val response = get("/", headers = mapOf("name" to "è$&"))
+                assertThat(response.text).isEqualTo("è$&")
+            }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file