diff --git a/core/src/main/java/feign/FeignException.java b/core/src/main/java/feign/FeignException.java
index c158aeb2..9d471410 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/feign/FeignException.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/feign/FeignException.java
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@ import static java.lang.String.format;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 
-import feign.codec.StringDecoder;
-
 /**
  * Origin exception type for all Http Apis.
  */
@@ -29,14 +27,11 @@ public class FeignException extends RuntimeException {
     return new FeignException(format("%s %s %s", cause.getMessage(), request.method(), request.url(), 0), cause);
   }
 
-  private static final StringDecoder toString = new StringDecoder();
-
   public static FeignException errorStatus(String methodKey, Response response) {
     String message = format("status %s reading %s", response.status(), methodKey);
     try {
       if (response.body() != null) {
-        String body = toString.decode(response, String.class).toString();
-        response = Response.create(response.status(), response.reason(), response.headers(), body);
+        String body = Util.toString(response.body().asReader());
         message += "; content:\n" + body;
       }
     } catch (IOException ignored) { // NOPMD
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/feign/Util.java b/core/src/main/java/feign/Util.java
index 289f60f7..412b10f6 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/feign/Util.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/feign/Util.java
@@ -17,10 +17,12 @@ package feign;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.Reader;
 import java.lang.reflect.Array;
 import java.lang.reflect.ParameterizedType;
 import java.lang.reflect.Type;
 import java.lang.reflect.WildcardType;
+import java.nio.CharBuffer;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -163,4 +165,24 @@ public class Util {
     }
     return types[types.length - 1];
   }
+
+  private static final int BUF_SIZE = 0x800; // 2K chars (4K bytes)
+
+  public static String toString(Reader reader) throws IOException {
+    if (reader == null) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    try {
+      StringBuilder to = new StringBuilder();
+      CharBuffer buf = CharBuffer.allocate(BUF_SIZE);
+      while (reader.read(buf) != -1) {
+        buf.flip();
+        to.append(buf);
+        buf.clear();
+      }
+      return to.toString();
+    } finally {
+      ensureClosed(reader);
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/feign/codec/Decoder.java b/core/src/main/java/feign/codec/Decoder.java
index 1a7865ca..54f078fc 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/feign/codec/Decoder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/feign/codec/Decoder.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package feign.codec;
 
 import feign.FeignException;
 import feign.Response;
+import feign.Util;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Type;
@@ -74,16 +75,18 @@ public interface Decoder {
    * signatures.
    */
   public class Default implements Decoder {
-    private final StringDecoder stringDecoder = new StringDecoder();
-
     @Override
     public Object decode(Response response, Type type) throws IOException {
       if (Response.class.equals(type)) {
-        return response;
-      } else if (String.class.equals(type)) {
-        return stringDecoder.decode(response, type);
+        String bodyString = null;
+        if (response.body() != null) {
+          bodyString = Util.toString(response.body().asReader());
+        }
+        return Response.create(response.status(), response.reason(), response.headers(), bodyString);
       } else if (void.class.equals(type) || response.body() == null) {
         return null;
+      } else if (String.class.equals(type)) {
+        return Util.toString(response.body().asReader());
       }
       throw new DecodeException(format("%s is not a type supported by this decoder.", type));
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/feign/codec/StringDecoder.java b/core/src/main/java/feign/codec/StringDecoder.java
index 93f66eac..03c1b1d3 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/feign/codec/StringDecoder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/feign/codec/StringDecoder.java
@@ -16,38 +16,21 @@
 package feign.codec;
 
 import feign.Response;
+import feign.Util;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.Reader;
 import java.lang.reflect.Type;
-import java.nio.CharBuffer;
-
-import static feign.Util.ensureClosed;
 
 /**
  * Adapted from {@code com.google.common.io.CharStreams.toString()}.
  */
 public class StringDecoder implements Decoder {
-  private static final int BUF_SIZE = 0x800; // 2K chars (4K bytes)
-
   @Override
   public Object decode(Response response, Type type) throws IOException {
     Response.Body body = response.body();
     if (body == null) {
       return null;
     }
-    Reader from = body.asReader();
-    try {
-      StringBuilder to = new StringBuilder();
-      CharBuffer buf = CharBuffer.allocate(BUF_SIZE);
-      while (from.read(buf) != -1) {
-        buf.flip();
-        to.append(buf);
-        buf.clear();
-      }
-      return to.toString();
-    } finally {
-      ensureClosed(from);
-    }
+    return Util.toString(body.asReader());
   }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/feign/codec/DefaultDecoderTest.java b/core/src/test/java/feign/codec/DefaultDecoderTest.java
index d02f8a24..9442d760 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/feign/codec/DefaultDecoderTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/feign/codec/DefaultDecoderTest.java
@@ -15,11 +15,12 @@
  */
 package feign.codec;
 
-import feign.FeignException;
 import feign.Response;
+import feign.Util;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 import org.w3c.dom.Document;
 
+import java.io.StringReader;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -38,19 +39,19 @@ public class DefaultDecoderTest {
   @Test public void testDecodesToResponse() throws Exception {
     Response response = knownResponse();
     Object decodedObject = decoder.decode(response, Response.class);
-    assertEquals(decodedObject.getClass(), Response.class, "");
+    assertEquals(decodedObject.getClass(), Response.class);
     Response decodedResponse = (Response) decodedObject;
     assertEquals(decodedResponse.status(), response.status());
     assertEquals(decodedResponse.reason(), response.reason());
     assertEquals(decodedResponse.headers(), response.headers());
-    assertEquals(decodedResponse.body().toString(), response.body().toString());
+    assertEquals(Util.toString(decodedResponse.body().asReader()), "response body");
   }
 
   @Test public void testDecodesToString() throws Exception {
     Response response = knownResponse();
     Object decodedObject = decoder.decode(response, String.class);
     assertEquals(decodedObject.getClass(), String.class);
-    assertEquals(decodedObject.toString(), response.body().toString());
+    assertEquals(decodedObject.toString(), "response body");
   }
 
   @Test public void testDecodesNullBodyToNull() throws Exception {
@@ -63,9 +64,11 @@ public class DefaultDecoderTest {
   }
 
   private Response knownResponse() {
+    String content = "response body";
+    StringReader reader = new StringReader(content);
     Map<String, Collection<String>> headers = new HashMap<String, Collection<String>>();
     headers.put("Content-Type", Collections.singleton("text/plain"));
-    return Response.create(200, "OK", headers, "response body");
+    return Response.create(200, "OK", headers, reader, content.length());
   }
 
   private Response nullBodyResponse() {