diff --git a/llama.cpp b/llama.cpp
index 33b948470..704c5e24b 100644
--- a/llama.cpp
+++ b/llama.cpp
@@ -13051,7 +13051,7 @@ struct llama_grammar * llama_grammar_init(
         }
     } while (true);
 
-    return new llama_grammar{ std::move(vec_rules), std::move(stacks), {} };
+    return new llama_grammar{ std::move(vec_rules), std::move(stacks), {}, {}, {} };
 }
 
 void llama_grammar_free(struct llama_grammar * grammar) {
@@ -13059,7 +13059,7 @@ void llama_grammar_free(struct llama_grammar * grammar) {
 }
 
 struct llama_grammar * llama_grammar_copy(const struct llama_grammar * grammar) {
-    llama_grammar * result = new llama_grammar{ grammar->rules, grammar->stacks, grammar->partial_utf8 };
+    llama_grammar * result = new llama_grammar{ grammar->rules, grammar->stacks, grammar->partial_utf8, grammar->token_pieces, grammar->token_codepoints };
 
     // redirect elements in stacks to point to new rules
     for (size_t is = 0; is < result->stacks.size(); is++) {
@@ -13540,7 +13540,7 @@ void llama_sample_repetition_penalties(
     }
 }
 
-void llama_sample_grammar(struct llama_context * ctx, llama_token_data_array * candidates, const struct llama_grammar * grammar) {
+void llama_sample_grammar(struct llama_context * ctx, llama_token_data_array * candidates, struct llama_grammar * grammar) {
     GGML_ASSERT(ctx);
     const int64_t t_start_sample_us = ggml_time_us();
 
@@ -13552,21 +13552,36 @@ void llama_sample_grammar(struct llama_context * ctx, llama_token_data_array * c
         }
     }
 
+    if (grammar->token_codepoints.empty()) {
+        auto n_vocab = llama_n_vocab(llama_get_model(ctx));
+        grammar->token_codepoints.resize(n_vocab);
+        grammar->token_pieces.resize(n_vocab);
+        for (llama_token id = 0; id < n_vocab; ++id) {
+            const std::string piece = llama_token_to_piece(ctx, id, false);
+            grammar->token_pieces[id] = piece;
+            grammar->token_codepoints[id] = decode_utf8(piece, {0, 0});
+        }
+    }
+
     std::vector<std::pair<std::vector<uint32_t>, llama_partial_utf8>> candidates_decoded;
-    candidates_decoded.reserve(candidates->size);
+    if (grammar->partial_utf8.n_remain > 0) {
+        candidates_decoded.reserve(candidates->size);
+    }
     std::vector<llama_grammar_candidate>                              candidates_grammar;
     candidates_grammar.reserve(candidates->size);
 
     for (size_t i = 0; i < candidates->size; ++i) {
         const llama_token id    = candidates->data[i].id;
-        const std::string piece = llama_token_to_piece(ctx, id, false);
-
+        const auto & piece      = grammar->token_pieces[id];
         if (llama_token_is_eog(&ctx->model, id)) {
             if (!allow_eog) {
                 candidates->data[i].logit = -INFINITY;
             }
         } else if (piece.empty() || piece[0] == 0) {
             candidates->data[i].logit = -INFINITY;
+        } else if (grammar->partial_utf8.n_remain == 0){
+            const auto & decoded = grammar->token_codepoints.at(id);
+            candidates_grammar.push_back({ i, decoded.first.data(), decoded.second });
         } else {
             candidates_decoded.push_back(decode_utf8(piece, grammar->partial_utf8));
             candidates_grammar.push_back({ i, candidates_decoded.back().first.data(), candidates_decoded.back().second });
@@ -13763,10 +13778,12 @@ void llama_grammar_accept_token(struct llama_context * ctx, struct llama_grammar
         GGML_ASSERT(false);
     }
 
-    const std::string piece = llama_token_to_piece(ctx, token, false);
+    const auto & piece = grammar->token_pieces.at(token);
 
     // Note terminating 0 in decoded string
-    const auto   decoded     = decode_utf8(piece, grammar->partial_utf8);
+    const auto   decoded     = grammar->partial_utf8.n_remain == 0
+        ? grammar->token_codepoints[token]
+        : decode_utf8(piece, grammar->partial_utf8);
     const auto & code_points = decoded.first;
     std::vector<std::vector<const llama_grammar_element *>> tmp_new_stacks;
     for (auto it = code_points.begin(), end = code_points.end() - 1; it != end; ++it) {
diff --git a/llama.h b/llama.h
index 8b1b15ed4..13c596353 100644
--- a/llama.h
+++ b/llama.h
@@ -961,7 +961,7 @@ extern "C" {
     LLAMA_API void llama_sample_grammar(
             struct llama_context * ctx,
           llama_token_data_array * candidates,
-      const struct llama_grammar * grammar);
+            struct llama_grammar * grammar);
 
     /// @details Mirostat 1.0 algorithm described in the paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.14966. Uses tokens instead of words.
     /// @param candidates A vector of `llama_token_data` containing the candidate tokens, their probabilities (p), and log-odds (logit) for the current position in the generated text.
@@ -1099,6 +1099,11 @@ struct llama_grammar {
 
     // buffer for partially generated UTF-8 sequence from accepted tokens
     llama_partial_utf8                                      partial_utf8;
+
+    // caching the token pieces & their decoded codepoints.
+    std::vector<std::string>                                token_pieces;
+    std::vector<std::pair<std::vector<uint32_t>,
+                                  llama_partial_utf8>>      token_codepoints;
 };
 
 struct llama_grammar_candidate {