diff --git a/scrapy/http/response/text.py b/scrapy/http/response/text.py
index 9c667ab7e..afa430329 100644
--- a/scrapy/http/response/text.py
+++ b/scrapy/http/response/text.py
@@ -59,7 +59,12 @@ class TextResponse(Response):
 
     def body_as_unicode(self):
         """Return body as unicode"""
-        # check for self.encoding before _cached_ubody just in
+        return self.text
+
+    @property
+    def text(self):
+        """ Body as unicode """
+        # access self.encoding before _cached_ubody to make sure
         # _body_inferred_encoding is called
         benc = self.encoding
         if self._cached_ubody is None:
@@ -67,11 +72,6 @@ class TextResponse(Response):
             self._cached_ubody = html_to_unicode(charset, self.body)[1]
         return self._cached_ubody
 
-    @property
-    def text(self):
-        """ Body as unicode """
-        return self.body_as_unicode()
-
     def urljoin(self, url):
         """Join this Response's url with a possible relative url to form an
         absolute interpretation of the latter."""