Please take these with a grain of salt since Brazil is a big country and some customs may vary depending on region (Southeast, Northeast, South, etc).

Originally written as a Quora answer.

• Not offering coffee (cafézinho) to visitors — drinking coffee & talking about life is sort of sacred ritual in Brazil and good hosts make sure to offer it to guests
• Not greeting new acquaintances with two (or three) kisses in the cheek — these can be “air kisses” but they are sort of required between opposite sexes. Men will often simply shake hands (unless they’re family) but men and women usually exchange a couple kisses. If in a professional setting, you can safely ignore this rule and stick to shaking hands
• Bad-mouthing Brazil — Brazilians are proud of their country. They are similar to Americans in a way. Bad-mouthing Brazil to Brazilians is an easy way to make enemies or even get into a physical confrontation. We can complain about Brazil, not foreigners
• When invited to someone’s house, arriving with “empty hands” — if invited, bring something with you. Beer, wine, a dessert, anything goes
• Not welcoming a friend home EVEN if they literally drop by unannounced — Brazilians are spontaneous to a fault. Friends will stop by suddenly, no plans made, just to hang out and say hi. If you’re rude when that happens, they will remember it for a long time
• Assuming a meeting/appointment/outing is set in stone without prior “confirmation” — our idea of planning is very different from other cultures. Let’s say you and your friends talk about going to a movie Friday morning (and the movie is at 8:30 p.m. later in the day.Everyone says “Sure let’s do it!” guess what? It DOES NOT mean the outing will actually happen. Brazilians may say “yes” in these sort of situations because they are signaling they would like to do it. Everyone still needs to confirm via email/text/phone before you can take the outing for granted. This one leaves tons of foreigners shaking heads, so watch out
• Being a “lone wolf” — in Brazil, everyone does everything together. It used to be the bane of my existence. Everyone watches TV together, plays games, goes swimming, etc. Brazilians don’t tolerate those who like to do their own “thing” — they see them as being weird and anti-social. So if you’re in Brazil, please try to be a bit more social than you’re used to in the U.S. or other countries. You might even enjoy it!

How about you? Do you have any other faux pas to add to the list? Let’s hear it in the comments :)