title: Spring @RestController not returning plain text response
body: <p>I'm experimenting with the new Spring 4.0 @RestController to return a simple text response from a controller:</p>
  
  <pre><code>@RestController
  @RequestMapping(value = "/heartbeat")
  public class HeartbeatController {
  
      private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(HeartbeatController.class);
  
      @RequestMapping
      public String heartbeat() {
          logger.info("Received heartbeat!");
          return "I'm Alive!";
      }
  
      @RequestMapping(value = "/test", produces = MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN_VALUE)
      public String heartbeat2() {
          logger.info("Received heartbeat!");
          return "I'm Alive!";
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I access /heartbeat then I get back:</p>
  
  <pre><code>"I'm Alive!"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The result includes the double quotes, what I did not expect.</p>
  
  <p>When I access /heartbeat/test then I get a empty response back, but I expect the I'm Alive! text.</p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE</strong></p>
  
  <p>curl -i <a href="http://myserver.com/rest/heartbeat">http://myserver.com/rest/heartbeat</a></p>
  
  <p>HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8
  Server: Development/1.0
  Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 18:59:08 GMT
  Cache-Control: no-cache
  Expires: Fri, 01 Jan 1990 00:00:00 GMT
  Content-Length: 12</p>
  
  <p>"I'm Alive!"</p>
  
  <p>curl -i -H "Accept: application/json" <a href="http://myserver.com/rest/heartbeat">http://myserver.com/rest/heartbeat</a>
  HTTP/1.1 200 OK
  Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8
  Server: Development/1.0
  Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:01:12 GMT
  Cache-Control: no-cache
  Expires: Fri, 01 Jan 1990 00:00:00 GMT
  Content-Length: 12</p>
  
  <p>"I'm Alive!"</p>
  
  <p>curl -i <a href="http://myserver.com/rest/heartbeat/test">http://myserver.com/rest/heartbeat/test</a></p>
  
  <p>HTTP/1.1 406 Not Acceptable
  Server: Development/1.0
  Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:00:13 GMT
  Cache-Control: no-cache
  Expires: Fri, 01 Jan 1990 00:00:00 GMT
  Content-Length: 0</p>
  
  <p>curl -i -H "Accept: text/plain" <a href="http://myserver.com/rest/heartbeat/test">http://myserver.com/rest/heartbeat/test</a></p>
  
  <p>HTTP/1.1 406 Not Acceptable
  Server: Development/1.0
  Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:02:06 GMT
  Cache-Control: no-cache
  Expires: Fri, 01 Jan 1990 00:00:00 GMT
  Content-Length: 0</p>