Sometimes, if Optional is empty, we want to throw an exception (for example, NoSuchElementException). The clumsy solution to this problem is listed as follows:

// Avoid
public String findStatus() {

  Optional<String> status = ...; // this is prone to be empty

  if (status.isPresent()) {
    return status.get();
  } else {
    throw new NoSuchElementException("Status cannot be found");
  }
}

But a much more elegant solution will rely on the Optional.orElseThrow() method. The signature of this method, orElseThrow(Supplier<? extends X> exceptionSupplier), allows us to give the exception as follows (if the value is present then orElseThrow() will return it):

// Prefer
public String findStatus() {

  Optional<String> status = ...; // this is prone to be empty

  return status.orElseThrow(
    () -> new NoSuchElementException("Status cannot be found"));
}

Or, another exception is, for example, IllegalStateException:

// Prefer
public String findStatus() {

  Optional<String> status = ...; // this is prone to be empty

  return status.orElseThrow(
    () -> new IllegalStateException("Status cannot be found"));
}

Starting with JDK 10, Optional was enriched with an orElseThrow() flavor without arguments. This method implicitly throws NoSuchElementException:

// Prefer (JDK 10+)
public String findStatus() {

  Optional<String> status = ...; // this is prone to be empty

  return status.orElseThrow();
}

Nevertheless, be aware that throwing an unchecked exception without a meaningful message in production is not good practice.