diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HTableDescriptor.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HTableDescriptor.java
index a29481da408..31a880a7a92 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HTableDescriptor.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HTableDescriptor.java
@@ -1759,6 +1759,7 @@ public class HTableDescriptor implements WritableComparable<HTableDescriptor> {
           .setScope(HConstants.REPLICATION_SCOPE_LOCAL)
           // Disable blooms for meta.  Needs work.  Seems to mess w/ getClosestOrBefore.
           .setBloomFilterType(BloomType.NONE)
+          .setCacheDataInL1(true)
          });
     metaDescriptor.addCoprocessor(
       "org.apache.hadoop.hbase.coprocessor.MultiRowMutationEndpoint",