It was love at first sip for Colby Lopez and Rebecca Quin.
In between matches at their day jobs at World Wrestling Entertainment, the duo–popularly known by their ring names, Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch—would go on dates in different cities across the country to try out different blends and brews.
Dates at Cartel Coffee Lab in Phoenix, Madcap Coffee in Grand Rapids, and many others in 2019 led to their engagement that same year, followed by a child, marriage, and now, their own line of coffee: AMO.
“It’s simple, clean, straight to the point, [and] encapsulated kind of everything that we really wanted to put forth with this brand, as far as our love for coffee, our love for our fans, our love for each other, and our family,” Lopez says of the name they chose for their brand.
“To put all that into a coffee brand was something that made sense, and also is a little touch back to our wedding song, which is ‘mother tongue’ by Bring Me the Horizon, covered by Dan Campbell from The Wonder Years. But the song ‘mother tongue’ is also off of the Bring Me the Horizon album ‘Amo,’ and so it's sort of just tied all together and it’s little nods to people that have helped make our life special over the years,” he adds.
The couple officially launched AMO's debut drop on April 27, a full week after their appearances at WrestleMania 42, the most recent edition of the WWE’s signature annual event, on April 18 & 19.
Lopez, as Rollins, made his return to the ring after surgery for an injured shoulder kept him out of action since last October. Meanwhile, Quin, as Lynch, walked out of the event as the Women’s Intercontinental Champion after defeating AJ Lee (née April Jeanette Mendez).
48 hours after the drop, AMO had officially sold out of four of its six available flavors.
The idea to launch their own line of coffee had been brewing slowly for months, with Quin primarily pushing for it. They made their first serious move last year when they hired a joint manager who helped them explore other avenues in addition to their careers as wrestlers.
“We want to do different things outside of wrestling, you know, acting, NFL broadcasting for me, but the one thing that we both wanted to do was something in the coffee space,” says Lopez.
Lopez took the next step by sliding into the DMs of Dayglow Coffee in Silver Lake. He and Quin wanted to invest in the company, which was looking for investors last year. They chose Dayglow after looking at other brand developers, but nothing felt or tasted right until they found Dayglow.
“We didn’t want our name on a random coffee. We wanted good coffee,” Quin says.
By April, AMO coffee was ready to roll out with six flavors: Watermelon Candy, Shortbread Cookie, Berry Blossom, and Tropic Passion as the four, single origin flavors, and Fruit Punch and Chocolate Strawberry as the “tag team” flavors with each made from a combination of two beans. Each coffee is flavored naturally through a distinct process for each flavor profile. Whereas one may be co-fermented, and another may be washed, yet another may be semi-washed.
“The wildest one is the watermelon, because it's a co-ferment, and so it just takes on the taste of the watermelon. The Tropic Passion is fantastic as a washed bean. The flavor notes hit so hard just being a washed coffee,” says Lopez.
“I just love wacky flavor. Subtlety is fun, but I love it when it just smacks you in the face,” he adds.
True to their nature as professional wrestlers, they previewed AMO at the toughest, most hardcore setting for any imbiber of the delicious bean: the World of Coffee expo in San Diego the weekend before WrestleMania 42. Their booth, with its loud music, bold and bright branding, and tag-team latte art competition stood out from the rest.
“I will say I was more nervous for the response there than I was the following week when we tested out our cold drinks at WWE World, where I knew those people were going to be excited for anything that we put out. Our little booth in the corner was very much like a redheaded stepchild,” says Lopez.
“People were so welcoming and so loving and they wanted to try it,” Quin tells us of the experience in San Diego. “They loved it. It was great feedback, so it was awesome.”
As of publication, only one of the six flavors is still in stock online. The couple, however, will have all six flavors available at a launch party on Friday, May 22, at Dayglow’s Venice location. They will also have five additional flavors available as canned cold brews, which are as bold and wacky as the original, packaged flavors: Watermelon Blast, Purple Velvet, Butterscotch Candy, Key Lime Pie, and Maple Pancake.
If this whole thing works out, could AMO have its own physical location in the future?
“I'm pushing for it. He's pushing back,” Quin says. “There's nothing around where we live. There's a bunch of tech bros that need to be caffeinated with good coffee. Let's get in there. Let's not wait for somebody else to do it!”
A Few Of The Couple's Favorite L.A. Specialty Roasters
- Dayglow Coffee
- Menotti’s Coffee Stop
- Maru Coffee
- The Boy & The Bear
- Mad Lab Coffee Roasters
- Endorffeine
- Quat (aka Kumquat and Loquat)
The AMO Launch Party ~ Friday, May 22, 5-9 p.m. ~ Dayglow Coffee ~ 540 Rose Ave. Venice, CA 90291
