diff --git a/tests/test_api.py b/tests/test_api.py
index a5c6f6a2..7ed4cced 100644
--- a/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_api.py
@@ -1762,16 +1762,10 @@ def test_common_prefix_database_names(app_client_conflicting_database_names):
     # https://github.com/simonw/datasette/issues/597
     assert ["fixtures", "foo", "foo-bar"] == [
         d["name"]
-        for d in json.loads(
-            app_client_conflicting_database_names.get("/-/databases.json").body.decode(
-                "utf8"
-            )
-        )
+        for d in app_client_conflicting_database_names.get("/-/databases.json").json
     ]
     for db_name, path in (("foo", "/foo.json"), ("foo-bar", "/foo-bar.json")):
-        data = json.loads(
-            app_client_conflicting_database_names.get(path).body.decode("utf8")
-        )
+        data = app_client_conflicting_database_names.get(path).json
         assert db_name == data["database"]
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_config_dir.py b/tests/test_config_dir.py
index 50e67f80..490b1f1d 100644
--- a/tests/test_config_dir.py
+++ b/tests/test_config_dir.py
@@ -84,21 +84,20 @@ def config_dir_client(tmp_path_factory):
 def test_metadata(config_dir_client):
     response = config_dir_client.get("/-/metadata.json")
     assert 200 == response.status
-    assert METADATA == json.loads(response.text)
+    assert METADATA == response.json
 
 
 def test_config(config_dir_client):
     response = config_dir_client.get("/-/config.json")
     assert 200 == response.status
-    config = json.loads(response.text)
-    assert 60 == config["default_cache_ttl"]
-    assert not config["allow_sql"]
+    assert 60 == response.json["default_cache_ttl"]
+    assert not response.json["allow_sql"]
 
 
 def test_plugins(config_dir_client):
     response = config_dir_client.get("/-/plugins.json")
     assert 200 == response.status
-    assert "hooray.py" in {p["name"] for p in json.loads(response.text)}
+    assert "hooray.py" in {p["name"] for p in response.json}
 
 
 def test_templates_and_plugin(config_dir_client):
@@ -123,7 +122,7 @@ def test_static_directory_browsing_not_allowed(config_dir_client):
 def test_databases(config_dir_client):
     response = config_dir_client.get("/-/databases.json")
     assert 200 == response.status
-    databases = json.loads(response.text)
+    databases = response.json
     assert 2 == len(databases)
     databases.sort(key=lambda d: d["name"])
     assert "demo" == databases[0]["name"]
@@ -141,4 +140,4 @@ def test_metadata_yaml(tmp_path_factory, filename):
     client.ds = ds
     response = client.get("/-/metadata.json")
     assert 200 == response.status
-    assert {"title": "Title from metadata"} == json.loads(response.text)
+    assert {"title": "Title from metadata"} == response.json
diff --git a/tests/test_csv.py b/tests/test_csv.py
index 1030c2bb..42022726 100644
--- a/tests/test_csv.py
+++ b/tests/test_csv.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ def test_csv_with_non_ascii_characters(app_client):
     )
     assert response.status == 200
     assert "text/plain; charset=utf-8" == response.headers["content-type"]
-    assert "text,number\r\n𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬,1\r\nbob,2\r\n" == response.body.decode("utf8")
+    assert "text,number\r\n𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬,1\r\nbob,2\r\n" == response.text
 
 
 def test_max_csv_mb(app_client_csv_max_mb_one):
diff --git a/tests/test_html.py b/tests/test_html.py
index e602bf0e..2d2a141a 100644
--- a/tests/test_html.py
+++ b/tests/test_html.py
@@ -606,9 +606,7 @@ def test_row_html_simple_primary_key(app_client):
 
 
 def test_table_not_exists(app_client):
-    assert "Table not found: blah" in app_client.get("/fixtures/blah").body.decode(
-        "utf8"
-    )
+    assert "Table not found: blah" in app_client.get("/fixtures/blah").text
 
 
 def test_table_html_no_primary_key(app_client):
diff --git a/tests/test_plugins.py b/tests/test_plugins.py
index 7a3fb49a..f69e7fa7 100644
--- a/tests/test_plugins.py
+++ b/tests/test_plugins.py
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ def test_plugin_config_file(app_client):
 )
 def test_plugins_extra_body_script(app_client, path, expected_extra_body_script):
     r = re.compile(r"<script>var extra_body_script = (.*?);</script>")
-    json_data = r.search(app_client.get(path).body.decode("utf8")).group(1)
+    json_data = r.search(app_client.get(path).text).group(1)
     actual_data = json.loads(json_data)
     assert expected_extra_body_script == actual_data
 
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ def view_names_client(tmp_path_factory):
 def test_view_names(view_names_client, path, view_name):
     response = view_names_client.get(path)
     assert response.status == 200
-    assert "view_name:{}".format(view_name) == response.body.decode("utf8")
+    assert "view_name:{}".format(view_name) == response.text
 
 
 def test_register_output_renderer_no_parameters(app_client):
@@ -345,8 +345,7 @@ def test_register_output_renderer_all_parameters(app_client):
     assert 200 == response.status
     # Lots of 'at 0x103a4a690' in here - replace those so we can do
     # an easy comparison
-    body = response.body.decode("utf-8")
-    body = at_memory_re.sub(" at 0xXXX", body)
+    body = at_memory_re.sub(" at 0xXXX", response.text)
     assert {
         "1+1": 2,
         "datasette": "<datasette.app.Datasette object at 0xXXX>",
@@ -468,7 +467,6 @@ def test_register_facet_classes(app_client):
     response = app_client.get(
         "/fixtures/compound_three_primary_keys.json?_dummy_facet=1"
     )
-    data = json.loads(response.body)
     assert [
         {
             "name": "pk1",
@@ -502,7 +500,7 @@ def test_register_facet_classes(app_client):
             "name": "pk3",
             "toggle_url": "http://localhost/fixtures/compound_three_primary_keys.json?_dummy_facet=1&_facet=pk3",
         },
-    ] == data["suggested_facets"]
+    ] == response.json["suggested_facets"]
 
 
 def test_actor_from_request(app_client):