Index: oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/Segment.java
===================================================================
--- oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/Segment.java	(revision 1669328)
+++ oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/Segment.java	(working copy)
@@ -349,9 +349,19 @@
     }
 
     private String readString(int offset) {
+        if (StringCache.ENABLED) {
+            String s = StringCache.getString(this, offset);
+            if (s != null) {
+                return s;
+            }
+            s = loadString(offset);
+            StringCache.addString(this, offset, s);
+            return s;
+        }
         String string = strings.get(offset);
         if (string == null) {
             string = loadString(offset);
+            StringCache.addString(this, offset, string);
             strings.putIfAbsent(offset, string); // only keep the first copy
         }
         return string;
Index: oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/StringCache.java
===================================================================
--- oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/StringCache.java	(revision 0)
+++ oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/segment/StringCache.java	(working copy)
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.plugins.segment;
+
+public class StringCache {
+
+    public static final boolean ENABLED = Boolean.getBoolean("oak.SegmentStringCache");
+
+    /**
+     * The number of entries in the cache. Must be a power of 2.
+     */
+    private static final int CACHE_SIZE = 16 * 1024;
+    
+    /**
+     * The maximum number of characters in string that are cached.
+     */
+    private static final int MAX_STRING_SIZE = 128;
+    
+    private static final StringCacheEntry[] CACHE = new StringCacheEntry[CACHE_SIZE];
+    
+    public static String getString(Segment segment, int offset) {
+        int index = getIndex(segment, offset);
+        StringCacheEntry e = CACHE[index];
+        if (e != null && e.matches(segment, offset)) {
+            return e.string;
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+    
+    public static void addString(Segment segment, int offset, String string) {
+        if (string.length() > MAX_STRING_SIZE) {
+            return;
+        }
+        int index = segment.getSegmentId().hashCode() ^ offset;
+        CACHE[index] = new StringCacheEntry(segment, offset, string);
+    }
+    
+    private static int getIndex(Segment segment, int offset) {
+        int hash = segment.getSegmentId().hashCode() ^ offset;
+        return hash & (CACHE_SIZE - 1);
+    }
+    
+    static class StringCacheEntry {
+        private final long msb, lsb;
+        private final int offset;
+        final String string;
+        
+        StringCacheEntry(Segment segment, int offset, String string) {
+            SegmentId id = segment.getSegmentId();
+            this.msb = id.getMostSignificantBits();
+            this.lsb = id.getLeastSignificantBits();
+            this.offset = offset;
+            this.string = string;
+        }
+        
+        boolean matches(Segment segment, int offset) {
+            if (this.offset != offset) {
+                return false;
+            }
+            SegmentId id = segment.getSegmentId();
+            return id.getMostSignificantBits() == msb && id.getLeastSignificantBits() == lsb;
+        }
+        
+    }
+    
+}