The brewing temperature of coffee is one of the key elements in the ritual of brewing a black brew - whether you are a fan of the drip, chemex or French press. The right water temperature is fundamental. The water largely influences what you will find later in your cup.
From the beginning ...
As you are well aware, to drink coffee, its ground beans need to be poured over hot water. This allows the coffee to 'open up', leaching out the oils and other elements, all mixing and blending together, in effect leaving an aromatic black brew in your cup.
Hot water, or what kind of water?
It may seem overly exaggerated to you, but we assure you - coffee seriously doesn't like boiling water. Too high a water temperature, instead of bringing out the most valuable (and tasty!) of the coffee, simply destroys it! Boiling water makes literal coffee, and literal coffee = bitterness and flat, undeveloped flavour.
Very generally speaking, the optimum brewing temperature for alternative methods is 88-96 degrees C. This is the safest range - if you treat the beans with water at this temperature, the beans will repay you with the best they have in them. When it comes to espresso, if you have the ability to adjust the temperature of the water in your machine, it's a good idea to stick around above 93 deg C.