That 99-cent tallboy has been a Colorado summer staple since before most of us could drive. You know the ritual: walk into any 7-Eleven on Colfax, grab a can of AriZona Green Tea with honey from the cold case, crack it open in the parking lot while your bike leans against the curb. Ninety-nine cents printed right on the can — a promise the company has kept since 1996, through inflation, supply chain chaos, and every minimum wage hike.
For Aurora kids growing up in the '90s and 2000s, that can represented something bigger than refreshment. It was the first thing you could buy entirely on your own. Allowance money, birthday cash, coins scraped from the car console — ninety-nine cents meant independence. You didn't need a parent's permission or a debit card. Just pocket change and a thirst.
The can took on heavier meaning in 2012. Trayvon Martin, seventeen years old, walked into a Florida 7-Eleven for Skittles and an AriZona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail. He never made it home. That tallboy became evidence, then symbol — a reminder that childhood autonomy looks different depending on who's holding the can.
Thirty years later, the price hasn't budged. Next time you're stocking a cooler for Cherry Creek State Park or hitting the gas station before a shift at Buckley, notice the can in your hand. Same green tea. Same honey. Same promise. Some things in this city still cost less than a dollar.
