Cold mate tea and pão de queijo in Terminal 2
This Rei do Mate sits airside in Terminal 2 and runs on classic Brazilian tea-and-snack habits: grab a chimarrão-style mate, add a couple of pão de queijo, and walk to your gate. The rating hovers around 3.8, which fits what you get at a budget $ spot inside an airport. Think quick stop, not full café session.
Menu focus is mate in all forms: traditional, iced, and sweeter flavored versions that double as a light dessert drink. Several reviewers call out the iced mate plus pão de queijo combo as their standard pre-boarding order, especially before domestic flights from T2. Prices run higher than street-side Rei do Mate branches in Rio, but still under what you’d pay at many international-chain coffee counters.
Figure on paying a noticeable airport markup: locals specifically say “mais caro que na cidade,” though they still line up for the cold mate before boarding. Seating is limited to a tight cluster of tables, and comments mention that it fills fast at peak times around the mid-morning and late-afternoon departure banks. Expect to stand or move on quickly if your flight leaves near those waves.
Regulars treat this place as a to-go station. Many grab iced mate and a warm cheese bread, then head straight to the nearby Terminal 2 gates instead of fighting for a chair. Others pick up bottled drinks here to bring on domestic flights, using it as a last stop before boarding zones are called. Service is generally quicker than some coffee chains in GIG, which matters if boarding starts in 20 minutes.
Tip: If your gate is deep in Terminal 2, order iced mate and pão de queijo to go and use the walk to your gate as your “seating area.”