def split_mime_type(mime_type):
    """
    >>> split_mime_type('text/xml; charset=utf-8')
    ('text', 'xml', 'charset=utf-8')
    """
    options = None
    mime_class = None
    if '/' in mime_type:
        mime_class, mime_type = mime_type.split('/', 1)
    if ';' in mime_type:
        mime_type, options = [part.strip() for part in mime_type.split(';', 2)]
    return mime_class, mime_type, options