What Runner beans taste the best ?

White Lady for me.

I'm in the no-Runners'camp too.

Have grown a few this year, but the kitchen and dinners aren't interested, so will drop from the seed list next year.

We grow some conventional "cylindrical" French beans, but also Suttons Limka - a climbing French bean with flat pods and definitely no string!

(I don't think the taste is the same as a Runner, but I have only one vote!)

There is a similar flat-podded Dwarft French bean called Masterpiece.  Going to try some of them in the greenhouse for a late Autumn crop.

Have tried several of the "stringless" varieties in recent years (Wisley Magic, Lady Di, White Lady) which have all been pretty good performers but I sometimes think some of the "real" runner bean taste has been lost as well as the stringiness.

Have grown Celebration this year, (Munty frame - works well!) pretty flowers, good flower-setting, taste possibly better than those mentioned above, BUT as I write this there is not a single new flower on them to keep the crop coming, although I can't complain about the quantity I've had so far.

This may be the result of their early cropping - maybe this variety should be sown in stages to extend the season.

Anyone else's runners apparently decided they've done enough this early?

Hi jayg, that what you call “real” runner bean flavour is what I have been striving to get out of the past 3 years of growing as many varieties as I can find but have not succeeded.
What variety of runner bean had that flavour that you know as I wasn’t growing back then?

I seem to have trouble getting White Lady to germinate.

It's sad so may of us  have trouble germinating White Lady, but I don't feel as much of a failure now I know it's not just me 

That's what I've done, successfully, with other varieties, but WL  always seem to start rotting at stage 2