It is a grey and drizzly journey over the Knockmealdown Mountains to visit celebrated chocolatier Judit McNally, but even in the rain you can’t deny the beauty of these upland surroundings. Judit, who is originally from Hungary, agrees.
This is partly why she wanted to operate her business, Cocoa by Judit, from her rural home, located just outside of Cappoquin in Co Waterford.
“I love working here,” she says as we admire the peaceful setting through the window. In the background, her tempering machine gently does its work, keeping her couverture at the perfect melting point for making shiny, delicious chocolate.
“I just turn on some music, control the temperature [of the room] and I can look out on the cows grazing next door. This kitchen took ages to develop but I am so happy with how it turned out.”
Since starting Cocoa by Judit in 2024, Judit has set herself apart with her exclusive use of high-end couverture and truffle fillings made with artisan and locally sourced ingredients.
That said, her own origin story is just as fascinating as her product line. Leaving her Hungarian village in the 1990s, Judit set off for a career on cruise ships. She travelled the world working in guest services and eventually met her husband, David, who grew up in Dungarvan and was also working in cruise ship hospitality. In the early 2000s, they settled in Ireland and welcomed their two sons, Kevin (17) and William (15).
Additionally, they operated a busy town centre café in Dungarvan for nearly 20 years. They did all of this while restoring their historic farmhouse, keeping the traditional thatched roof of the cottage and eventually connecting it to the nearby outbuildings. In this light-filled home, you find a relaxed mix of original hearths, glass-doored cabinetry, a modern kitchen – complete with indoor pizza oven – and plenty of comfortable places to lounge.
We settle into the kitchen with cups of coffee and freshly baked cinnamon buns – a recipe Judit was well-known for during their café days, and the inspiration for one of her regular chocolate fillings.
“I created our Cinnámon Bán truffle from this recipe,” she says. “I use actual cinnamon bun in the ganache – I slice one and infuse it into the butter.”
Judit McNally makes luxury artisan chocolates from her home near Cappoquin, Co Waterford. \ Janine Kennedy
Star-crossed lovers
As we continue our chat, Judit and David recall how they first met. Like other age-old tales of star-crossed lovers, their work on cruise ships didn’t make the early stages of their relationship easy – they were more like ships passing in the night.
“We met in 1999, and back then the internet didn’t really exist [the way it does now],” David says. “There was a retired Greek restaurant manager who had a convenience store in Cozumel [an island in Mexico] where you could leave notes, gifts or parcels for other people on various ships. We would leave notes for each other. It seems weird now, but at that stage there were no mobile phones or social media.
“We came back [to Ireland] in 2003, and in 2004 we got married and bought the café,” he continues. “The opportunity came up and we thought, ‘Let’s go for it.’”
After 19 years in operation, David and Judit made the difficult decision to sell the café in 2023. COVID-19 had changed consumer behaviour in so many ways, and the pair knew they had more to give in terms of food service and hospitality. Chocolate was the obvious direction for Judit, who had, at that stage, spent many years working with it.
She and David also share a love of the outdoors, growing food and supporting local artisans. They wanted to develop a business which would tick as many of those boxes as possible. While Judit focused on developing her product line, David worked developing business accounts, HACCP and manual handling systems.
He enrolled in University College Cork’s (UCC) Diploma in Speciality and Artisan Food Enterprises and used Cocoa by Judit as his final project. Today, he jokes, he is trying to “make himself redundant” from the business but also says each member of the family gets involved and helps during busy times. He says chocolate, for Judit, was always going to be the natural progression.
“Judit had always been known for her chocolate cake,” he says, smiling.
“I was always trying to put my personal twist on our baked goods,” Judit adds. “With the café, no matter what I made we were able to sell, and I was able to experiment. Because of the work I did in the café, by the time I got my tempering machine I was able to produce chocolate at a factory scale on my own.”
Judit McNally makes luxury artisan chocolates from her home near Cappoquin, Co Waterford. \ Janine Kennedy
After the café closed, Judit thought she might take some time off and start her next venture more slowly. However, that was not to be – when word got out that she was planning to get into chocolate-making, the local community was immediately behind her.
“We left the café in September and right away I started producing chocolates for local businesses,” she says. Today, you’ll find her chocolates in Dungarvan shops like Cass & Co and The Wine Buff. She also sells online and in Ardkeen Stores in Waterford city.
Her regular chocolate truffle flavours are known as The Waterford Selection and include The Full Irish (dark chocolate with a ganache infused with local Blackwater Full Irish Whiskey and Drumhill Honey), Déise Gold (milk chocolate with a salted caramel filling infused with Déise seaweed), the aforementioned Cinnámon Bán with a cinnamon bun-infused ganache, and Blackwater Blush (white chocolate with a strawberry ganache infused with Blackwater Gin). She also offers limited edition chocolates made with what’s in season, or to celebrate certain times of year (like Valentine’s Day).
“Soon, I’ll have rhubarb, at Christmas I have cassis [I use Viking Irish Blackcurrant Liqueur from Waterford] and I’m always looking around the garden,” she says, enthusiastically. “I love using nuts, including our own hazelnuts [when we have a good year]. Being Hungarian, I really love walnuts – I did my own version of a walnut whip this year for Christmas, which was delicious.”
Judit McNally makes luxury artisan chocolates from her home near Cappoquin, Co Waterford. \ Janine Kennedy
Support and recognition
Judit’s chocolates have been well-received within their Co Waterford locality, but they have also received national recognition through the Blas na h’Éireann awards. Her Waterford Selection won gold this past year at the 2025 awards held in Dingle, Co Kerry.
“It’s just amazing to be recognised on a national level,” she says.
They work hard and love what they do, but Judit and David are also very family oriented. They regularly travel to Hungary to visit Judit’s mother, and they enjoy spending time outdoors with their sons – whether swimming, cycling or working in the garden. This is why so much of the inspiration for Judit’s chocolate flavours comes from their backyard.
“We always like to use things from the garden – rhubarb, apples, blackcurrants – and we like to support our fellow Waterford food producers,” she says. “We use gin and whiskey from Blackwater Distillery, and I often cycle over there to pick up what I need. They have such a nice location.
“This is a chocolate business and ultimately, some of the things we need are imported. I would love to work with an Irish packaging company, but it’s been impossible to find high quality sustainable packaging anywhere in Europe. The chocolate itself is also, obviously, imported.
“So the question always needs to be: how much of Waterford can we add into the fillings?”
See cocoabyjudit.ie
Looking for a sweet something for your Valentine this year? Ditch the mass-produced supermarket chocolates and get your loved one chocolate that shows you took time and spent a little extra (because they’re worth it). Here are some Irish artisanal chocolates making the rounds for Valentine’s Day:
Grá Chocolates
A Dozen Chocolate Roses
Think about it: real roses will eventually wilt and die. These are roses you can truly enjoy until they’re gone. Each rose is delicately hand painted and comes in a variety of flavours including cherry, coffee fudge or rose Turkish (€37, grachocolates.com).
Chocolate roses.
Bean and Goose
Totally Love Collection
Two delicious Bean and Goose chocolate bars in a cute, lovey-dovey package. If you play your cards right, your loved one might share. This gift pack includes their Milk Smoky Salt bar and their Dark Umami Seaweed bar (€15.50, beanandgoose.ie).
Bean and Goose chocolate.
Cocoa by Judit
Chocolate Hearts
Judit’s creamy milk chocolate hearts are filled with two flavour options: mallow and caramel, or pistachio. They are hand-painted and packaged in a beautiful pink (of course) box (€23, cocoabyjudit.ie).
Chocolate hearts.
It is a grey and drizzly journey over the Knockmealdown Mountains to visit celebrated chocolatier Judit McNally, but even in the rain you can’t deny the beauty of these upland surroundings. Judit, who is originally from Hungary, agrees.
This is partly why she wanted to operate her business, Cocoa by Judit, from her rural home, located just outside of Cappoquin in Co Waterford.
“I love working here,” she says as we admire the peaceful setting through the window. In the background, her tempering machine gently does its work, keeping her couverture at the perfect melting point for making shiny, delicious chocolate.
“I just turn on some music, control the temperature [of the room] and I can look out on the cows grazing next door. This kitchen took ages to develop but I am so happy with how it turned out.”
Since starting Cocoa by Judit in 2024, Judit has set herself apart with her exclusive use of high-end couverture and truffle fillings made with artisan and locally sourced ingredients.
That said, her own origin story is just as fascinating as her product line. Leaving her Hungarian village in the 1990s, Judit set off for a career on cruise ships. She travelled the world working in guest services and eventually met her husband, David, who grew up in Dungarvan and was also working in cruise ship hospitality. In the early 2000s, they settled in Ireland and welcomed their two sons, Kevin (17) and William (15).
Additionally, they operated a busy town centre café in Dungarvan for nearly 20 years. They did all of this while restoring their historic farmhouse, keeping the traditional thatched roof of the cottage and eventually connecting it to the nearby outbuildings. In this light-filled home, you find a relaxed mix of original hearths, glass-doored cabinetry, a modern kitchen – complete with indoor pizza oven – and plenty of comfortable places to lounge.
We settle into the kitchen with cups of coffee and freshly baked cinnamon buns – a recipe Judit was well-known for during their café days, and the inspiration for one of her regular chocolate fillings.
“I created our Cinnámon Bán truffle from this recipe,” she says. “I use actual cinnamon bun in the ganache – I slice one and infuse it into the butter.”
Judit McNally makes luxury artisan chocolates from her home near Cappoquin, Co Waterford. \ Janine Kennedy
Star-crossed lovers
As we continue our chat, Judit and David recall how they first met. Like other age-old tales of star-crossed lovers, their work on cruise ships didn’t make the early stages of their relationship easy – they were more like ships passing in the night.
“We met in 1999, and back then the internet didn’t really exist [the way it does now],” David says. “There was a retired Greek restaurant manager who had a convenience store in Cozumel [an island in Mexico] where you could leave notes, gifts or parcels for other people on various ships. We would leave notes for each other. It seems weird now, but at that stage there were no mobile phones or social media.
“We came back [to Ireland] in 2003, and in 2004 we got married and bought the café,” he continues. “The opportunity came up and we thought, ‘Let’s go for it.’”
After 19 years in operation, David and Judit made the difficult decision to sell the café in 2023. COVID-19 had changed consumer behaviour in so many ways, and the pair knew they had more to give in terms of food service and hospitality. Chocolate was the obvious direction for Judit, who had, at that stage, spent many years working with it.
She and David also share a love of the outdoors, growing food and supporting local artisans. They wanted to develop a business which would tick as many of those boxes as possible. While Judit focused on developing her product line, David worked developing business accounts, HACCP and manual handling systems.
He enrolled in University College Cork’s (UCC) Diploma in Speciality and Artisan Food Enterprises and used Cocoa by Judit as his final project. Today, he jokes, he is trying to “make himself redundant” from the business but also says each member of the family gets involved and helps during busy times. He says chocolate, for Judit, was always going to be the natural progression.
“Judit had always been known for her chocolate cake,” he says, smiling.
“I was always trying to put my personal twist on our baked goods,” Judit adds. “With the café, no matter what I made we were able to sell, and I was able to experiment. Because of the work I did in the café, by the time I got my tempering machine I was able to produce chocolate at a factory scale on my own.”
Judit McNally makes luxury artisan chocolates from her home near Cappoquin, Co Waterford. \ Janine Kennedy
After the café closed, Judit thought she might take some time off and start her next venture more slowly. However, that was not to be – when word got out that she was planning to get into chocolate-making, the local community was immediately behind her.
“We left the café in September and right away I started producing chocolates for local businesses,” she says. Today, you’ll find her chocolates in Dungarvan shops like Cass & Co and The Wine Buff. She also sells online and in Ardkeen Stores in Waterford city.
Her regular chocolate truffle flavours are known as The Waterford Selection and include The Full Irish (dark chocolate with a ganache infused with local Blackwater Full Irish Whiskey and Drumhill Honey), Déise Gold (milk chocolate with a salted caramel filling infused with Déise seaweed), the aforementioned Cinnámon Bán with a cinnamon bun-infused ganache, and Blackwater Blush (white chocolate with a strawberry ganache infused with Blackwater Gin). She also offers limited edition chocolates made with what’s in season, or to celebrate certain times of year (like Valentine’s Day).
“Soon, I’ll have rhubarb, at Christmas I have cassis [I use Viking Irish Blackcurrant Liqueur from Waterford] and I’m always looking around the garden,” she says, enthusiastically. “I love using nuts, including our own hazelnuts [when we have a good year]. Being Hungarian, I really love walnuts – I did my own version of a walnut whip this year for Christmas, which was delicious.”
Judit McNally makes luxury artisan chocolates from her home near Cappoquin, Co Waterford. \ Janine Kennedy
Support and recognition
Judit’s chocolates have been well-received within their Co Waterford locality, but they have also received national recognition through the Blas na h’Éireann awards. Her Waterford Selection won gold this past year at the 2025 awards held in Dingle, Co Kerry.
“It’s just amazing to be recognised on a national level,” she says.
They work hard and love what they do, but Judit and David are also very family oriented. They regularly travel to Hungary to visit Judit’s mother, and they enjoy spending time outdoors with their sons – whether swimming, cycling or working in the garden. This is why so much of the inspiration for Judit’s chocolate flavours comes from their backyard.
“We always like to use things from the garden – rhubarb, apples, blackcurrants – and we like to support our fellow Waterford food producers,” she says. “We use gin and whiskey from Blackwater Distillery, and I often cycle over there to pick up what I need. They have such a nice location.
“This is a chocolate business and ultimately, some of the things we need are imported. I would love to work with an Irish packaging company, but it’s been impossible to find high quality sustainable packaging anywhere in Europe. The chocolate itself is also, obviously, imported.
“So the question always needs to be: how much of Waterford can we add into the fillings?”
See cocoabyjudit.ie
Looking for a sweet something for your Valentine this year? Ditch the mass-produced supermarket chocolates and get your loved one chocolate that shows you took time and spent a little extra (because they’re worth it). Here are some Irish artisanal chocolates making the rounds for Valentine’s Day:
Grá Chocolates
A Dozen Chocolate Roses
Think about it: real roses will eventually wilt and die. These are roses you can truly enjoy until they’re gone. Each rose is delicately hand painted and comes in a variety of flavours including cherry, coffee fudge or rose Turkish (€37, grachocolates.com).
Chocolate roses.
Bean and Goose
Totally Love Collection
Two delicious Bean and Goose chocolate bars in a cute, lovey-dovey package. If you play your cards right, your loved one might share. This gift pack includes their Milk Smoky Salt bar and their Dark Umami Seaweed bar (€15.50, beanandgoose.ie).
Bean and Goose chocolate.
Cocoa by Judit
Chocolate Hearts
Judit’s creamy milk chocolate hearts are filled with two flavour options: mallow and caramel, or pistachio. They are hand-painted and packaged in a beautiful pink (of course) box (€23, cocoabyjudit.ie).
Chocolate hearts.
SHARING OPTIONS