diff --git a/test/gorpc_protocols_flavor.py b/test/gorpc_protocols_flavor.py
index c91259ee85..cf3e5a4973 100644
--- a/test/gorpc_protocols_flavor.py
+++ b/test/gorpc_protocols_flavor.py
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ class GoRpcProtocolsFlavor(protocols_flavor.ProtocolsFlavor):
   def vtgate_python_protocol(self):
     return 'gorpc'
 
+  def vtgate_python_types(self):
+    return 'mysql'
+
   def client_error_exception_type(self):
     return face.AbortionError
 
diff --git a/test/grpc_protocols_flavor.py b/test/grpc_protocols_flavor.py
index 917a8b7b6e..38c8911f84 100644
--- a/test/grpc_protocols_flavor.py
+++ b/test/grpc_protocols_flavor.py
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ class GRpcProtocolsFlavor(protocols_flavor.ProtocolsFlavor):
   def vtgate_python_protocol(self):
     return 'grpc'
 
+  def vtgate_python_types(self):
+    return 'proto3'
+
   def client_error_exception_type(self):
     return face.AbortionError
 
diff --git a/test/protocols_flavor.py b/test/protocols_flavor.py
index ed6cc83e73..578a166918 100644
--- a/test/protocols_flavor.py
+++ b/test/protocols_flavor.py
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ class ProtocolsFlavor(object):
     """The protocol to use to talk to vtgate with python clients."""
     raise NotImplementedError('Not implemented in the base class')
 
+  def vtgate_python_types(self):
+    """Returns either 'proto3' or 'mysql' for the enum types."""
+    raise NotImplementedError('Not implemented in the base class')
+
   def client_error_exception_type(self):
     """The exception type the RPC client implementation returns for errors."""
     raise NotImplementedError('Not implemented in the base class')
diff --git a/test/vtgatev3_test.py b/test/vtgatev3_test.py
index 5a94b6b68a..e28f7f7a15 100755
--- a/test/vtgatev3_test.py
+++ b/test/vtgatev3_test.py
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ class TestVTGateFunctions(unittest.TestCase):
 
   def setUp(self):
     self.master_tablet = shard_1_master
-    if protocols_flavor().vtgate_python_protocol() == 'grpc':
+    if protocols_flavor().vtgate_python_types() == 'proto3':
       self.int_type = 265
       self.string_type = 6165
     else:
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ class TestVTGateFunctions(unittest.TestCase):
     # FIXME(alainjobart): the values encoded in these strings are not UTF-8,
     # causing the encoding to fail. Check with Sugu on what to do.
     # Maybe the keyrange should be HEX-encoded in the query to avoid the issue.
-    if protocols_flavor().vtgate_python_protocol() != 'grpc':
+    if protocols_flavor().vtgate_python_types() != 'proto3':
       result = self.execute_on_master(
           vtgate_conn,
           "select * from vt_user where keyrange('', '\x80')", {})