Having two Optional objects in assertEquals() doesn't require unwrapped values. This is applicable because Optional.equals() compares the wrapped values, not the Optional objects. This is the source code of Optional.equals():

@Override
public boolean equals(Object obj) {

  if (this == obj) {
    return true;
  }

  if (!(obj instanceof Optional)) {
    return false;
  }

  Optional<?> other = (Optional<?>) obj;

  return Objects.equals(value, other.value);
}

Let's assume that we have two Optional objects:

Optional<String> actual = ...;
Optional<String> expected = ...;

// or
Optional actual = ...;
Optional expected = ...; 

It is advisable to avoid a test written as follows:

// Avoid
@Test
public void givenOptionalsWhenTestEqualityThenTrue() 
    throws Exception {

  assertEquals(expected.get(), actual.get());
}

If expected and/or actual is empty, then the get() method will cause an exception of the NoSuchElementException type.

It is better to use the following test:

// Prefer
@Test
public void givenOptionalsWhenTestEqualityThenTrue() 
    throws Exception {

  assertEquals(expected, actual);
}