diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 2c62f1b45af54788e148d3bac744c745a3bc12a8..a64949268b2fd5f04af22e746970536655e0bf63 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ dependencies {
     testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
 }
 
+compileJava {
+    options.encoding = "UTF-8"
+}
+
 sourceSets.main.java.srcDirs = ["src"]
 // the tests fail because they have environemnt specific parameters
 // sourceSets.test.java.srcDirs = ["test"]