diff --git a/xarray/backends/zarr.py b/xarray/backends/zarr.py
index bb316f00f41..fafcd939944 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/zarr.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/zarr.py
@@ -635,7 +635,7 @@ def open_store(
         zarr_format=None,
         use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask=None,
         write_empty: bool | None = None,
-        cache_members: bool = False,
+        cache_members: bool = True,
     ):
         (
             zarr_group,