[java] What is the best Java library to use for HTTP POST, GET etc.?

I agree httpclient is something of a standard - but I guess you are looking for options so...

Restlet provides a http client specially designed for interactong with Restful web services.

Example code:

    Client client = new Client(Protocol.HTTP);
    Request r = new Request();
    r.setResourceRef("http://127.0.0.1:8182/sample");
    r.setMethod(Method.GET);
    r.getClientInfo().getAcceptedMediaTypes().add(new Preference<MediaType>(MediaType.TEXT_XML));
    client.handle(r).getEntity().write(System.out);

See http://www.restlet.org/ for more details