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Hidden treats

You might be driving through the industrial moonscape of petroleum storage tanks on South Dodge Boulevard when you smell it - the tantalizing, unmistakable aroma of roasting coffee beans. Turn left at the red hand-lettered gun shop sign, and left again to reach the modest world headquarters of Arbuckle Coffee Roasters. It doesn't look like much, but for the coffee-loving Christmas shopper, heaven waits indoors: coffee beans so fresh from the roaster, they warm the hands holding a 1-pound Arbuckles' bag. Arbuckle boasts that it is Tucson's only roaster of certified organic and fair-trade coffee beans. The company creates and supplies custom blends to top Tucson restaurants, such as Acacia and Janos. In short, Arbuckle Coffee is one of Tucson's relatively hidden food gems - places where producers and importers offer their wares directly to members of the public who know where they are hiding and how to buy there. Most of the food gems are not what you could call slick retail operations - you may even need to call ahead to make sure someone is available to help you and not too busy packing spices or tasting coffees. But whatever you lose in mall ambience, you will gain in a chance to buy such perishables as peppercorns, nuts and coffee in their freshest possible condition, and the opportunity to talk to folks who care passionately about the foods they sell. We've compiled this list of seven such places to get you started this holiday season. Flavorbank

If you want to enjoy the same gourmet pepper and salt consumed by the well-heeled guests in the Ventana Room at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort - Tucson's only AAA Five Diamond eatery - drive to another spot in Tucson's industrial south end. Flavorbank, a 36-year-old spice importer, provides gourmet pepper to top food purveyors around the United States, from AJ's in Arizona to Zabar's in New York, as well as to the Ventana Room. Company President Jackie Hall's mother inherited the company and moved it to Tucson before her death in 2001. It's a tiny, 2 1/2-person operation, but a big player in its special niche of fine peppercorns that carry a bite and intense flavor far beyond the ordinary shaker stuff. Go ahead, make that gourmet in your life really happy: With 2-ounce tubes of the world's best peppercorns starting at $4, you can afford to stuff a stocking with them. In addition to peppers, Flavorbank offers special salt, ground chile and colored sugars for decorating those Christmas cookies. Hall says she hopes to have some gift baskets ready for the holidays. Flavorbank Company, Inc., 4101 S. Longfellow Ave. Phone: 747-5431. Web: www.flavorbank.com. Call for hours and directions. Tohono O'odham Trading Company/ Community Action

Stumped for a gift you can be certain no one else will give that special someone? How about a gift of rare and precious saguaro syrup? The syrup of the Sonoran Desert's signature cactus is everything maple wishes it could be - sweet and smoky and intense all at the same time. Chefs drizzle it sparingly over ice creams and other desserts. The syrup is one of several foods you can buy from Tohono O'odham Community Action, which is working to restore native foods and the tribe's traditional diet. The menu includes tepary beans, cholla buds, saguaro seeds and seasonal squash and melons. These foods are only available at the Tohono O'odham Trading Company in Sells, by phone, from a single Web site, or occasionally at such events as this weekend's Celebration of Basketry and Native Foods Festival at the Heard Museum in Phoenix on Saturday and Sunday. Prices range from $5 for a pound of beans to $20 for a tiny but beautiful 1.5-ounce bottle of saguaro syrup. If you or your gift getter need ideas for cooking the goodies, you and they can check out the recipes in the forthcoming cookbook "Sharing the Desert's Gifts: Food & Traditions of the Tohono O'odham." Tohono O'odham Trading Company/Tohono O'odham Community Action. In Sells, look for the shop on Main Street. Phone: 1-520-383-4966. Web: www.heritagefoodsusa.com For more information on the community action program, see www.tocaonline.org online. Arbuckle Coffee Roasters

Denney Willis, the owner of Arbuckle Coffee Roasters, has been in the coffee business since 1973 - when Starbucks was a pup. He has survived quarrels with investors and the ups and downs of international commodities, plus all the normal perils encountered by the average small business, to build a company that will roast about a quarter of a million pounds of coffee this year. The Ohio native started his first coffee business in Pennsylvania when he was trouble-shooting for a restaurant chain and discovered that people were actually avoiding the place at breakfast because it had bad coffee. Kids with allergies and one too many vicious Northeast winters drove him to Tucson in 1978. Arbuckle has been roasting in its current location for a dozen years. Here Willis tapped into coffee history - he was already using the name and fame of John Arbuckle, who in the mid-19th century figured out how to glaze coffee beans with a protective sugar-egg coating. This allowed him to ship pre-roasted beans. Before his innovation, cooks had to roast their own. The brand became famous throughout the West, partly through the efforts of notable salesman Mose Drachman (from the pioneer Tucson family). Willis even continues to pack a peppermint stick in every pound of the Ariosa coffee he sells. Back in the days of cattle roundups, chuckwagon cooks would give the candy to anyone who volunteered for the tedious job of hand-grinding the coffee. Today, Willis roasts beans from 20 to 25 countries. There are lots of fair trade and organic coffees - the equivalent of fine wine versus wine in a box, he says. The Café Femenino blend even supports a co-op of 464 Peruvian women who have entered the male-dominated world of coffee farming ($14.15 a pound). Arbuckle ordered a bunch of red gift boxes to satisfy a big customer, so you can get 2 pounds of coffee (one type or two types) in a box that fits in a standard FedEx or U.S. Postal Service express pouch. Willis also offers teas, herbal blends, more than 30 flavored coffees, logo T-shirts, aprons and mugs, and new espresso-filled chocolates. Coffee prices are volatile, but you can expect to pay between $10 and $17 per pound, depending on the variety. The easiest way to order is by going on the Internet to www.arbucklecoffee.com and following the instructions for local pickup. Your order will be waiting for you by the next morning. Arbuckle Coffee Roasters, 3498 S. Dodge Blvd, Suite 100. Phone: 790-JAVA (790-5282). Call for hours and to order if you don't have Internet access. Web: www.arbucklecoffee.com The Chocolate Depot

For fresh, high-quality chocolate truffles as well as chocolate creams, toffee, turtles, etc., overcome your resistance to Western kitsch and head to The Chocolate Depot, 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road, in Trail Dust Town. Behind the tourist attraction is a serious chocolatier, making candies from top Belgian ingredients. Scott and Pascale Rail bought the shop a little more than a year ago. Detroit native Scott now cooks fillings in an enormous copper kettle at the back of the store while the Belgian-born Pascale molds chocolates upstairs. Here you will find really good chocolate molded into fun shapes, from Santas and coyotes to a complete chocolate desk set or tool kit. An entire case of sugar-free chocolates (sweetened with malitol) will make the diabetic in your life very happy. They also carry a big selection of nostalgic candies - when was the last time you had a Sugar Daddy? Prices range from $15 a pound for basic chocolates to $23.50 a pound for chocolate truffles. The Chocolate Depot, 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road. Phone: 886-9203. Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays though Saturdays; 4-9 p.m. Sundays. The Pecan Store

OK, this one's a full-fledged retail shop and you can argue whether Sahuarita is really a "hidden" location. But you can't quarrel with the opportunity to buy highly perishable pecans fresh from an important grower with a fanatic dedication to high-quality nuts. The Pecan Store sits beside the Green Valley Pecans processing plant, smack in the middle of thousands of trees. While not everything is locally made, the store does make a conscious effort to feature lots of Tucson goodies - including the wares of several companies listed here. There are nut chocolates and other candies, jams, coffees, etc. But the big draw is unquestionably the pecans - everything from flavored snacks to enormous sacks. Eight-ounce grab bags of chocolate-covered and candied pecans start at $5.25; a 30-pound box of large pecan pieces can be had for $229.50. The Pecan Store, 1625 E. Sahuarita Road. (Take Sahuarita exit from Interstate 19. Head east and follow squirrel signs. Store will be on your left.) Phone: 791-2062 Web: www.pecanstore.com. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays. Arizona Pistachio Company

What do you do when you own a big chunk of the wholesale market, but some customers want to buy directly from you? Arizona Pistachio Company has chosen to keep a very low profile retail shop and to focus on gift items that won't compete with the bags of the company's own pistachios stocked by Walgreens, Bashas' et al. The store features goodies like a Coyote Concert gift tin for $9.99 and big and beautiful 2-pound designer jars of their sweet green nuts for $17.99. You can also buy pistachios by the gallon bucket. Arizona Pistachio Company. 3865 N. Business Center Drive, Suite 115, (northwest of Prince Road and Interstate 10; enter from the 1-10 frontage road). Call: 746-0880. Web: www.azpis tachio.com. Open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Seven Cups Fine Chinese Teas

Before Seven Cups tearoom opened, parent company Green Dragon Enterprises LLC was already importing fine teas from China. Nowadays, Austin and Zhu Ping Hodge offer more than 60 varieties under the Seven Cups brand. They are the exclusive U.S. importer of teas from some of China's most famous growers, many organic. Zhu Ping Hodge was one of the first tea masters certified in China, and everyone at the tearoom/store is eager to share tea facts and lore. They also stock a steadily growing array of teacups and pots and other accessories for that jasmine or oolong fanatic in your life. Prices for a 50-gram bag range from less than $4 to $42 for extraordinary rare leaves. Seven Cups Fine Chinese Teas, 2516 E. Sixth St. Phone: 881-4072. Web: www.sevencups.com. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.