This is the output I got, tab separated:

   2017-05-29T13:37+0200 DEBUG: Garply exited with 0.
   2017-05-29T14:55+0200 ERR: PLUGH QUUX CORGE!
                        ^tab

All you have to do is substitute tab for space.

Ctrl-V then tab. Or if using GNU sed just type \t.

We can reject this simplicity as a "trick" and demand something more complex.

But that suggests that the goal is not to solve the problem, it is to satisfy someone's desire for having some underlying complexity that moves the solution out of the realm of "trivial".