diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/mime_negotiation.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/mime_negotiation.rb
index 68ba1a8..8eaa085 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/mime_negotiation.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/mime_negotiation.rb
@@ -15,10 +15,6 @@ module ActionDispatch
         end
       end
 
-      def content_type
-        content_mime_type && content_mime_type.to_s
-      end
-
       # Returns the accepted MIME type for the request.
       def accepts
         @env["action_dispatch.request.accepts"] ||= begin
diff --git a/actionpack/test/dispatch/request_test.rb b/actionpack/test/dispatch/request_test.rb
index f03ae7f..b6112f9 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/dispatch/request_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/dispatch/request_test.rb
@@ -377,8 +377,9 @@ class RequestTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
   end
 
   test "content type" do
-    request = stub_request 'CONTENT_TYPE' => 'text/html'
+    request = stub_request 'CONTENT_TYPE' => 'text/html; charset=utf-8'
     assert_equal Mime::HTML, request.content_mime_type
+    assert_equal 'utf-8', request.content_charset
   end
 
   test "can override format with parameter" do