diff --git a/xarray/backends/zarr.py b/xarray/backends/zarr.py
index e83f5556369..2dcfcdb3860 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/zarr.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/zarr.py
@@ -179,14 +179,31 @@ def encode_zarr_attr_value(value):
     return encoded
 
 
+def _is_coordinate_variable(zarr_array, name):
+    if _zarr_v3():
+        if zarr_array.metadata.zarr_format == 2:
+            is_coordinate = name in zarr_array.metadata.attributes.get(
+                "_ARRAY_DIMENSIONS", []
+            )
+        else:
+            is_coordinate = name in (zarr_array.metadata.dimension_names or [])
+    else:
+        is_coordinate = name in zarr_array.attrs.get("_ARRAY_DIMENSIONS", [])
+    return is_coordinate
+
+
 class ZarrArrayWrapper(BackendArray):
-    __slots__ = ("_array", "dtype", "shape")
+    __slots__ = ("_array", "coords_buffer_prototype", "dtype", "is_coordinate", "shape")
 
-    def __init__(self, zarr_array):
+    def __init__(
+        self, zarr_array, is_coordinate: bool, coords_buffer_prototype: Any | None
+    ):
         # some callers attempt to evaluate an array if an `array` property exists on the object.
         # we prefix with _ to avoid this inference.
         self._array = zarr_array
         self.shape = self._array.shape
+        self.is_coordinate = is_coordinate
+        self.coords_buffer_prototype = coords_buffer_prototype
 
         # preserve vlen string object dtype (GH 7328)
         if (
@@ -210,7 +227,14 @@ def _vindex(self, key):
         return self._array.vindex[key]
 
     def _getitem(self, key):
-        return self._array[key]
+        kwargs = {}
+        if _zarr_v3():
+            if self.is_coordinate:
+                prototype = self.coords_buffer_prototype
+            else:
+                prototype = None
+            kwargs["prototype"] = prototype
+        return self._array.get_basic_selection(key, **kwargs)
 
     def __getitem__(self, key):
         array = self._array
@@ -605,6 +629,7 @@ class ZarrStore(AbstractWritableDataStore):
         "_cache_members",
         "_close_store_on_close",
         "_consolidate_on_close",
+        "_coords_buffer_prototype",
         "_group",
         "_members",
         "_mode",
@@ -636,6 +661,7 @@ def open_store(
         use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask=None,
         write_empty: bool | None = None,
         cache_members: bool = True,
+        coords_buffer_prototype: Any | None = None,
     ):
         (
             zarr_group,
@@ -668,6 +694,7 @@ def open_store(
                 close_store_on_close,
                 use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask,
                 cache_members=cache_members,
+                coords_buffer_prototype=coords_buffer_prototype,
             )
             for group in group_paths
         }
@@ -691,6 +718,7 @@ def open_group(
         use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask=None,
         write_empty: bool | None = None,
         cache_members: bool = True,
+        coords_buffer_prototype: Any | None = None,
     ):
         (
             zarr_group,
@@ -722,6 +750,7 @@ def open_group(
             close_store_on_close,
             use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask,
             cache_members,
+            coords_buffer_prototype,
         )
 
     def __init__(
@@ -736,6 +765,7 @@ def __init__(
         close_store_on_close: bool = False,
         use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask=None,
         cache_members: bool = True,
+        coords_buffer_prototype: Any | None = None,
     ):
         self.zarr_group = zarr_group
         self._read_only = self.zarr_group.read_only
@@ -751,6 +781,14 @@ def __init__(
         self._use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask = use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask
         self._cache_members: bool = cache_members
         self._members: dict[str, ZarrArray | ZarrGroup] = {}
+        if _zarr_v3() and coords_buffer_prototype is None:
+            # Once zarr-v3 is required we can just have this as the default
+            # https://github.com/zarr-developers/zarr-python/issues/2871
+            # Use the public API once available
+            from zarr.core.buffer.cpu import buffer_prototype
+
+            coords_buffer_prototype = buffer_prototype
+        self._coords_buffer_prototype = coords_buffer_prototype
 
         if self._cache_members:
             # initialize the cache
@@ -809,7 +847,15 @@ def ds(self):
 
     def open_store_variable(self, name):
         zarr_array = self.members[name]
-        data = indexing.LazilyIndexedArray(ZarrArrayWrapper(zarr_array))
+        is_coordinate = _is_coordinate_variable(zarr_array, name)
+
+        data = indexing.LazilyIndexedArray(
+            ZarrArrayWrapper(
+                zarr_array,
+                is_coordinate=is_coordinate,
+                coords_buffer_prototype=self._coords_buffer_prototype,
+            )
+        )
         try_nczarr = self._mode == "r"
         dimensions, attributes = _get_zarr_dims_and_attrs(
             zarr_array, DIMENSION_KEY, try_nczarr
@@ -1332,6 +1378,7 @@ def open_zarr(
     use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask=None,
     chunked_array_type: str | None = None,
     from_array_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
+    coords_buffer_prototype: Any | None = None,
     **kwargs,
 ):
     """Load and decode a dataset from a Zarr store.
@@ -1442,6 +1489,12 @@ def open_zarr(
         chunked arrays, via whichever chunk manager is specified through the ``chunked_array_type`` kwarg.
         Defaults to ``{'manager': 'dask'}``, meaning additional kwargs will be passed eventually to
         :py:func:`dask.array.from_array`. Experimental API that should not be relied upon.
+    coords_buffer_prototype : zarr.buffer.BufferPrototype, optional
+        The buffer prototype to use for loading coordinate arrays. Zarr offers control over
+        which device's memory buffers are read into. By default, xarray will always load
+        *coordinate* buffers into host (CPU) memory, regardless of the global zarr
+        configuration. To override this behavior, explicitly pass the buffer prototype
+        to use for coordinates here.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -1485,6 +1538,7 @@ def open_zarr(
         "storage_options": storage_options,
         "zarr_version": zarr_version,
         "zarr_format": zarr_format,
+        "coords_buffer_prototype": coords_buffer_prototype,
     }
 
     ds = open_dataset(
@@ -1557,6 +1611,7 @@ def open_dataset(
         engine=None,
         use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask=None,
         cache_members: bool = True,
+        coords_buffer_prototype: Any | None = None,
     ) -> Dataset:
         filename_or_obj = _normalize_path(filename_or_obj)
         if not store:
@@ -1573,6 +1628,7 @@ def open_dataset(
                 use_zarr_fill_value_as_mask=None,
                 zarr_format=zarr_format,
                 cache_members=cache_members,
+                coords_buffer_prototype=coords_buffer_prototype,
             )
 
         store_entrypoint = StoreBackendEntrypoint()
@@ -1608,6 +1664,7 @@ def open_datatree(
         storage_options=None,
         zarr_version=None,
         zarr_format=None,
+        coords_buffer_prototype: Any | None = None,
     ) -> DataTree:
         filename_or_obj = _normalize_path(filename_or_obj)
         groups_dict = self.open_groups_as_dict(
@@ -1627,6 +1684,7 @@ def open_datatree(
             storage_options=storage_options,
             zarr_version=zarr_version,
             zarr_format=zarr_format,
+            coords_buffer_prototype=coords_buffer_prototype,
         )
 
         return datatree_from_dict_with_io_cleanup(groups_dict)
@@ -1650,6 +1708,7 @@ def open_groups_as_dict(
         storage_options=None,
         zarr_version=None,
         zarr_format=None,
+        coords_buffer_prototype: Any | None = None,
     ) -> dict[str, Dataset]:
         from xarray.core.treenode import NodePath
 
@@ -1672,6 +1731,7 @@ def open_groups_as_dict(
             storage_options=storage_options,
             zarr_version=zarr_version,
             zarr_format=zarr_format,
+            coords_buffer_prototype=coords_buffer_prototype,
         )
 
         groups_dict = {}
diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_backends.py b/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
index a6df4d7b0cb..58334e09777 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_backends.py
@@ -3766,6 +3766,37 @@ def test_zarr_version_deprecated() -> None:
         xr.open_zarr(store=store, zarr_version=2, zarr_format=3)
 
 
+@requires_zarr
+def test_coords_buffer_prototype() -> None:
+    pytest.importorskip("zarr", minversion="3")
+
+    from zarr.core.buffer import cpu
+    from zarr.core.buffer.core import BufferPrototype
+
+    counter = 0
+
+    class Buffer(cpu.Buffer):
+        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            nonlocal counter
+            counter += 1
+            super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    class NDBuffer(cpu.NDBuffer):
+        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            nonlocal counter
+            counter += 1
+            super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    prototype = BufferPrototype(buffer=Buffer, nd_buffer=NDBuffer)
+
+    ds = create_test_data()
+    store = KVStore()
+    # type-ignore for zarr v2/v3 compat, even though this test is skipped for v2
+    ds.to_zarr(store=store, zarr_format=3)  # type: ignore[call-overload, unused-ignore]
+    xr.open_dataset(store, engine="zarr", coords_buffer_prototype=prototype)  # type: ignore[arg-type, unused-ignore]
+    assert counter > 0
+
+
 @requires_scipy
 class TestScipyInMemoryData(CFEncodedBase, NetCDF3Only):
     engine: T_NetcdfEngine = "scipy"